


Hold On To Me

by Dandy



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Serious Injuries
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-05
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2018-08-19 19:26:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 30,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8222189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dandy/pseuds/Dandy
Summary: Every now and then, a cataclysmic event occurs that changes the course of a person's life for good. When such an event happens to Kagami, Aomine finds himself faced with a choice: try to adapt to Kagami's new life, and face a hard path ahead, or remove himself from it, and lose the best thing he's ever had.
(Or, as my friend put it, "Shit happens to Kagami. Aomine is faced with Decisions. Read it for the AoKaga.")





	1. Initial Incident

It’s a cool night, one of those spring nights that’s still resisting the heat of the approaching summer. Aomine can see each puff of air as he pants, watching the ball he’s just released from his formless shot glide through the air. It’s got a beautiful arc and it’s perfectly on target, but-

Kagami gets a finger on it.

The ball’s arc is wobbly now, and it hits the rim. Both of them watch, with bated breath, as it rolls around the rim, again and again, before, finally, tipping into the net and falling through.

Kagami hisses in disappointment at the same time Aomine whoops, and the alarm on his phone goes off. With that buzzer-beater, Aomine won the game by two points.

“I win again, Kagami,” crows Aomine, laughing at the sour look on his opponent’s face. “That’s six in a row!”

“Only by two points!” Kagami says with a huff, going to retrieve the ball. “I’ll win next time!”

“You say that _every_ time.” Aomine cocks his head to the side, a big grin on his face. “You’re all talk.”

“But you know you can’t let your guard down around me.” Kagami can’t help but grin despite himself as he returns, the ball held under his shoulder

“How do you know? Maybe I’m only playing you at half my strength.”

Both of them know that isn’t true in the slightest, and that’s what makes playing each other so exhilarating. Never has Aomine had someone who was so evenly matched against him.

He throws an arm around Kagami’s shoulders, the other boy’s shirt sticking to his arm from the sweat. Most people think sweat is gross, he supposes, but he associates it with his best moments with Kagami, whether it’s after a one-on-one match like now, or after some really, _really_ good sex.

“Loser makes dinner, right?” he asks, practically purring in Kagami’s ear, and ignores the good-natured eye roll he gets in response.

“You’d want me to make dinner even if I won.”

Aomine doesn’t answer that, instead ducks in close enough to press a kiss to Kagami’s cheek, grinning at the heat that rises to Kagami’s face. It’s not like there’s anyone here to watch them, alone in the old, rundown court near Kagami’s apartment, with the moon already up in the sky.

Then he slides off Kagami just as languidly, stealing the ball from him as he goes. Kagami makes a noise of surprise at suddenly finding the ball in Aomine’s hands instead of his, and Aomine laughs as he walks off to grab his bag.

The walk back to Kagami’s apartment begins pleasantly, with gentle ribbing about the game, arguments about professional teams, and lots of laughter over shared jokes. Sometimes, Aomine is still amazed that they’ve come all this way from where they started almost a year ago, not that he’ll ever, ever admit to enjoying their new relationship to Kagami. He wouldn’t even call it a “relationship,” really – he and Kagami are just two people who hang out, make out, and have sex. But still, he likes it.

They stop at a crosswalk, Kagami pressing the button to cross. The two of them chat easily while waiting for the light to change. When it does, they saunter out into the street like normal. Everything is normal.

And then, very quickly, everything is not.

Aomine taunts, “Catch up, slowpoke,” from a few steps ahead when he sees a bright light. He turns his head to look at it, but before he can see its source, he hears Kagami yelling.

“AOMINE!”

The next thing Aomine knows, he’s lying on the ground. As he fell he heard a thud, and the screech of car breaks. Head spinning, he rolls over. His knees are scraped where he hit the pavement, and there’s a rip in his shirtsleeve as well. But that doesn’t concern him yet. There’s a car come to a stop just inches past his feet, but where is…

“KAGAMI!”

He spots Kagami’s hair up near the front wheel of the car. Pushing himself onto his hands and knees, he scrambles forward, reaching out for Kagami. His hand lands on Kagami’s shoulder just as he rounds the front of his car, and his eyes widen.

He’s sure that Kagami’s spine shouldn’t be twisted like that.

“Kagami?” He gives Kagami’s shoulder the smallest of shakes, his voice quiet, _trembling_. “…Taiga?”

Kagami doesn’t answer. He’s still, _deathly_ still, and for a moment, Aomine’s heart stops.

But Kagami is breathing, the air coming from his chest in soft wheezes. He’s still alive. Shaking, Aomine lowers his forehead to rest it against Kagami’s shoulder, feeling a small rise with every breath and the puff of air against his face.

He’s alive, he’s alive, he’s alive.

He hears a car door open, and his head jerks up, eyes feral, more like an animal than a human. A man, in his early twenties, gets out, face frozen in a state of shock, and steps around to look at what he’s done. He doesn’t say anything, so Aomine breaks the silence.

“What the fuck were you doing? Didn’t you see the light?”

“I… I’m…” The man is sweating. He sways a little on his feet. Aomine wonders if he’s drunk. “I-is he dead?”

Aomine’s heart lurches, but Kagami is still breathing under his hand. “No.”

“Shit.” Nervously, the man runs a hand through his hair. “Is he… hurt?”

“You hit him with your fucking car!” Aomine snaps, voice cold and full of fury. The man flinches and takes an unsteady step back, losing his balance and coming to lean against his car.

“Shit. Shit.”

He bends double and starts vomiting onto the road. Aomine watches this indifferently. The driver deserves worse than an upset stomach, as far as he’s concerned.

He straightens up after he’s done, wiping his mouth off on his sleeve. He looks at the body on the ground, pales again, and turns on his heel.

Aomine leaps to his feet.

“Don’t you _dare_ -“

He’s way faster than the driver, and is at his side before he’s taken even a few steps. Aomine grabs the man’s arm and forcefully spins him around. “Wai-“ the driver begs, but before he can finish his thought, Aomine’s fist collides with his jaw, hard enough to hear a crack.

“Don’t you _fucking dare_!” he roars, looming over the driver, who is now in the road, curled in a fetal position. “You move again, I’ll kill you, I swear-“

“That’s enough, son.”

He whirls on the person who just put a hand on his arm to stop him; it’s a middle-aged man with graying hair, looking concerned but firm. Aomine forces himself not to punch anyone else, looking past the man to see a middle-aged woman, who’s on her cellphone, hopefully talking to emergency services. There’s a resounding click from her heels as she walks around the car that hit Kagami, and Aomine can hear her describing his injuries.

“It looks like his spine is broken.”

Aomine flinches and looks back at the man who stopped him.

“I already took down his license plate, so he can’t run.” The older man crouches down, looking over the driver’s jaw. The driver whimpers, but Aomine just wants to spit on him. “An ambulance is on its way. Go to your friend.”

Aomine does spit on the driver, then jogs back around the car and nearly collapses at Kagami’s side again. Kagami is still wheezing breaths, and now his eyes are open, glassy with pain.

Aomine leans forward, gently touching his face. “Kagami? Can you hear me?”

Kagami wheezes out something unintelligible, his eyes rolling to look at Aomine’s hand. Aomine nods encouragingly.

“I’m here, Kagami. I’m here. Everything’s going to be okay.” His voice is barely above a whisper, and he’s not sure who he’s trying to reassure.

“Dai…ki…” Kagami mumbles, panting between each syllable, and his hand twitches, like he’s trying to reach for Aomine’s hand. Aomine shakes his head.

“Don’t move! Don’t move, you… you idiot, you’re hurt, stupid Bakagami!”

The insults roll off his tongue, his only defense against the maddening scene in front of him. Somehow, somehow, it makes Kagami smile, just a little, the corners of his mouth turned up.

“’m fine… Ahomine…”

His eyelids fall again, and he slumps his head further against Aomine’s hand. Aomine can hear sirens coming closer, can hear voices above him, but he doesn’t care about any of them. Instead, he runs his fingers through Kagami’s hair, and presses his lips lightly against Kagami’s temple.

He doesn’t move until the paramedics pull him away.

* * *

 

They let Aomine ride in the ambulance, only because he’s hurt, too. All his scrapes and bruises are mostly minor, barring a broken finger. He hadn’t noticed it, and isn’t sure when it had broken, during his fall or when he punched the asshole.

It doesn’t matter. A broken finger is nothing compared to Kagami’s injuries. The paramedics had confirmed he had a spinal injury, among other bruises and cuts and probably some broken ribs, and had very cautiously maneuvered him onto a backboard, strapping him in place to keep it from getting worse. He’s unconscious, lying strapped down tight so he doesn’t jostle with the bumps of the ambulance, and Aomine wishes he could hold his hand.

“Are you alright?” asks one of the paramedics, and Aomine almost laughs. How can he possibly be alright, while Kagami is hurt like this?

“Worry about him,” he growls, and that’s the last time a paramedic tries to bother him before they arrive.

Once Kagami is off the ambulance, they begin to wheel him in for emergency surgery. Aomine hops off the back and makes to follow them, but he’s stopped by a nurse before he can get too far.

“Let go of me,” he huffs, voice low, craning his neck to keep Kagami in sight. The automatic doors slide open to admit the gurney carrying him, and he steps after it.

“Sir, I can’t let you go back there,” the nurse protests, not giving up her grip on Aomine’s arm. She’s surprisingly strong for her short stature. “You need to go have your injuries seen to.”

“I’m not leaving him!”

He wrenches his arm out of the nurse’s grasp, breaking into a run to get through the door. He can still see Kagami down a hall, and he turns to head that way, but two more nurses and an orderly catch him before he can, all three of them working to hold him back and drag him down the opposite hallway. Aomine struggles and twists in their hold, trying to get away from them, cursing at every god forsaken one of them, until long after Kagami has been wheeled out of sight.

* * *

 

He calls Kuroko after they splint his finger.

“Hello? Aomine-kun?” Kuroko sounds confused by the call, and Aomine realizes for the first time that it’s rather late.

“Hey,” he says, and then stops, falling silent. He has no idea what to say, or how to continue. He sits still in his chair in the waiting room, waiting for Kuroko to prompt him.

He obliges, several seconds later. “…What’s wrong?”

“Kagami’s hurt. He’s in the hospital.”

He spits the words out tonelessly, staring at the wall in front of him. There’s a crack in the paint near the ceiling. He traces the crack with his eyes while waiting for Kuroko to respond.

“What? Which hospital?”

Aomine tells him. Kuroko says, “I’m coming,” and then he hangs up the phone. That’s that done, then.

Kuroko doesn’t come alone; Aomine supposes he should have expected that. Instead, he has Seirin’s coach and captain in tow – or rather, they lead, and he follows along behind.

“What happened?” Aida asks when their little group comes to a stop in front of him. She’s in the front, arms crossed and expression stern, almost like she thinks Aomine is responsible for this. He supposes he can’t really blame her, but he also doesn’t have the energy for this.

“He got hit by a car.”

Her expression falters at his blunt explanation, and she glances at Hyuga, unsure of how to respond. He doesn’t look any less shaken, but pulls himself together more quickly.

“How did he get hit? How badly is he injured?”

“I dunno,” he says, and ignores how Aida bristles. “Some asshole ran a red light. Maybe he was drunk. I didn’t ask.”

He decides to leave out the part about breaking the guy’s jaw.

“And? How bad is it?” Aida prompts again, now seemingly over her shock. Aomine can tell it’s a front – she’s playing the role of team coach, staying strong so she can get all the facts and relay them to her team. She can be a high school girl upset about her friend once her job is done.

“Don’t know that either,” he answers, and his eyes become unfocused, so he doesn’t quite have to look at either of the people standing in front of him. “But the paramedics said it looked like a spinal injury.”

It’s easier when he says it flat out like this. It doesn’t even feel real; it feels like he’s just reciting lines.

For the second time, Aida loses her carefully composed expression. Beside her, Hyuga tenses, though he also has a role to play here, and he’s doing his best to stick to it. “That sounds… very serious.”

“I don’t know how serious yet. The nurses won’t tell me,” he says, and shrugs, and Aida bristles, but he honestly doesn’t care. Let them think whatever they want about him. She opens her mouth, like she’s going to say something, probably disapproving, but then a voice interrupts her.

“What happened to your finger?”

All three of them jump to varying degrees in surprise – even after all this time, Kuroko can still startle them all. For the first time since he came in, Aomine focuses on his old friend’s face.

Someone who doesn’t know Kuroko well might think the expression on his face is only mild sadness, but Aomine _does_ know Kuroko well. Kuroko is the only one here who is as close to Kagami as Aomine himself is. He’s the only one who can really understand what Aomine is feeling.

But Aomine can’t handle that. Not yet. So he focuses on the question instead. His finger? What happened to it?

When he tries to think of what happened, his brain fills with static. White noise. All he remembers is a shout, and then he was on the ground.

“I fell. Dodging out of the way of the car.”

“I see,” Kuroko says, and if he notices Aomine’s hesitation, he doesn’t mention it. “I’m glad you’re okay, otherwise.”

“Thanks,” Aomine says, and his voice is a little too bitter edged. Hyuga and Aida look at each other, seeming to come to a silent agreement.

“It sounds like we won’t be able to see him tonight. I’ll check tomorrow to see if he’s allowed visitors yet.” Aida turns her attention to Kuroko. “Are you coming with us?”

“No. I want to stay a little while longer.”

“Alright. Goodnight, Kuroko-kun. And, Aomine-san… take care.”

Hyuga echoes Aida’s goodbyes, and the two of them leave. Aomine watches their retreating backs impassively, not acknowledging Kuroko as he sits down in a chair on his other side.

“Aomine-kun… are you alright?”

Kuroko is one of the few people who know how… _close_ he and Kagami are. But still, Aomine isn’t ready to answer that question.

Instead, he rolls his head up to look at the ceiling and says, “Yeah. My finger will heal in time for the season.”

“That’s not what I meant,” says Kuroko, but Aomine just shrugs and closes his eyes. He can feel Kuroko staring at him for almost a minute after that, but eventually he pulls out his phone to answer a text, leaving Aomine alone, for now.

Almost half an hour passes with the two sitting in silence. Finally, a nurse walks out, asking if anyone is there for Kagami Taiga. Aomine and Kuroko both jump to their feet and hurry to her.

“Kagami Taiga?” she repeats, and they both nod, impatiently.

“How is he?” asks Aomine, trying to look down at the chart she’s holding. She instinctively tilts it more toward her chest to shield from his prying eyes.

“Are you related to him?”

“I’m his brother,” he says, without missing a beat, and she raises an eyebrow skeptically.

“Can you show me some identification to that effect?” she asks, and Aomine scowls.

“No, but I rode in the ambulance with him to get here. Can’t you just tell me what’s wrong with him?”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t release information like that to people who aren’t family.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Aomine’s expression grows dark, almost dangerous, though the nurse remains professional in the face of it. “Can’t you tell us _anything_?”

She considers, then says, “He’s not in any life-threatening danger. I’ll tell you that much.”

Aomine’s expression doesn’t lighten. So had his condition been life-threatening at some point? What is the extent of his injuries? He’s about to start bombarding the nurse with questions, but then Kuroko speaks up.

“Thank you for what you can tell us, anyway,” he says, startling the nurse. She apparently hadn’t realized he’d been standing there the whole time. Aomine might have laughed, if this had been another time.

“A-ah… well, yes. You’re welcome.”

“Do you know when he’ll be able to have visitors?”

“Oh, it won’t be for several days. Wednesday or Thursday at the soonest, I think,” she says, and Kuroko nods his thanks. Aomine says nothing, just watches the nurse as she turns and goes back beyond the door marked “Personnel Only.”

“Well. I think I’m going to go home, then. My parents have been wanting to know when I’m getting back.” Kuroko looks up at Aomine. The clock on the wall behind him says it’s almost midnight. “Are you staying tonight?”

“No. I’ll leave in a little bit.”

It’s a lie, and they both know that. But Kuroko just nods.

“Kagami-kun will be okay, I think,” he says once they’ve walked back to where they were sitting before. Kuroko grabs his jacket off the chair as he says it, then looks at Aomine.

“How do you know?” Aomine asks. His voice is drained of emotion.

“I just do. He’s strong. And he has help.”

He’s staring too deeply at Aomine. Aomine looks away.

“You better go. It’s late.”

“…Alright. Goodnight, Aomine-kun.”

Once he’s gone, Aomine sits back down in his chair and looks up at the ceiling again. The late night, empty feeling of a hospital waiting room presses in on him as he closes his eyes.

He feels like he won’t get much sleep tonight.


	2. Intensive Care

When Aomine wakes up, he doesn’t open his eyes immediately.

Maybe, just maybe, the whole thing was a dream. When he opens his eyes, he’ll be in Kagami’s room, where he was supposed to be this morning, with Kagami lying under his arm. Kagami will wake up and roll over and Aomine will say something snarky about his morning breath and then they’ll go take a shower together. Kagami will make breakfast and then they’ll go play some more one-on-one and have a great day.

But the crick in his neck and the soreness in his back are already bringing him back to reality, and when he opens his eyes he’s right where he was when he fell asleep: sitting in a hard, uncomfortable chair in a hospital waiting room.

It’s still early morning, the hospital waking up around him. There are more people in the room than there were before, some of whom he recognizes from when he first arrived. He happens to lock eyes with a woman who spent the whole night here, like he did, and she gives him a nod of silent understanding before going back to talking in low voices with two other women.

He pulls out his phone to see exactly what time it is and sees that he has three missed calls and five unread texts from Momoi.

_Dai-chan, Tetsu-kun just told me what happened. Why didn’t you call me!?_

_Dai-chan, stop ignoring my calls!_

_I’m going to bed. Please let me know if you’re alright. Goodnight, Dai-chan._

_Dai-chan! Did you stay there all night? Call me back!_

_I’m coming by later. Let me know if there’s anything you need me to bring you._

Aomine sends back a simple reply ( _phone charger_ ), then debates whether to turn his phone off silent. He honestly doesn’t want to deal with any calls, but he supposes he can’t keep Momoi in the dark forever.

He compromises by putting his phone on vibrate.

It’s not quite seven in the morning, which means he only got around four hours of sleep. Somehow he feels even more exhausted than he did before he slept, but he doesn’t feel like going back to sleep, either. Instead, he gets up and stretches, then wanders down to the hospital cafeteria.

His intention was to buy something to eat, but in the end, none of the food looks appealing, and only turns his stomach. He gets some coffee and downs it on the way back to the waiting room, not caring when it scalds the top of his mouth.

He’s only there for half an hour longer when a man and a woman wearing suits come out of the Personnel Only door, accompanied by the nurse he spoke with the night before about Kagami. She looks around the room and spots him, pointing him out to the man and woman, and then disappears back through the door while they approach him.

“Hello. The nurse told us you were with Kagami Taiga when he was brought to the hospital. Is that true?” It’s the woman asking, keeping a very serious and professional tone.

Aomine doesn’t bother rising out of his seat. Instead, he raises an eyebrow. “Who’s asking?”

Both of them reach into their pockets and produce detective badges. “I’m Detective Shirogane,” says the woman, before gesturing at her companion, “and this is Detective Dojima. We’re investigating Kagami’s accident.”

Aomine sits up straighter in his seat, leaning forward a bit. “You mean how he got hit by a car.”

“Yes.”

“Some accident.” Aomine huffs, then leans back. “The police arrested the guy who did it last night, right? So what do you need me for?”

“It is true that we arrested the suspect at the scene. Still, we need to get all the evidence we can,” says Detective Dojima this time. “As it is, Kagami-san can’t remember much about it right now. This is fairly typical when someone’s gone through a traumatic-“

“Wait.” Aomine sits up straight again. “You _talked_ to him?”

“Yes, but only briefly. He’s still in intensive care.”

“What the hell,” Aomine drones, clenching his fists unconsciously. “He’s been awake, and I’m not allowed to see him?”

“That’s something you’ll have to discuss with the hospital staff,” says Detective Shirogane, clearly trying to pull the conversation back on track. “For now, we just want to know what happened.”

Aomine doesn’t want to talk about what happened, he just wants to go see Kagami. But if it will help get that scumbag who hit him in jail, he might as well answer.

“We were crossing the street. Some asshole ran the light, and hit Kagami. I broke my finger diving out of the way of the car. That’s all there is to say.”

“The suspect said that you hit him,” says Detective Shirogane, and Aomine stares her straight in the eyes.

“He just hit Kagami with his car, and then he tried to get out and run. What would _you_ do?”

“Please calm down,” says Detective Dojima, though Aomine doesn’t think he sounded anything other than calm. “You’re not in any trouble here. We just want the facts.”

“Well, those are the facts.”

The detectives look at each other, and apparently decide they’re not going to get much more out of him. They have him sign some things and give them his phone number and home address, and then they’re gone.

* * *

 

Momoi arrives about an hour later, carrying a bag with her that has much more than his phone charger inside.

“I brought some clothes for you to change into, your toothbrush and toothpaste, and some deodorant,” she lists off, rummaging in the bag as she does. “I also brought some snacks.”

“Thanks,” he says tonelessly, and takes the bag from her while her hand is still digging around in it. She pulls back, looking at him with concern.

“Dai-chan, you should really eat something! When was the last time you had any food?”

“I went to the cafeteria this morning.” It’s not a lie, technically.

That seems to relax Momoi a bit, which is the intended effect. “Good. You won’t help Kagamin by starving yourself.”

She settles in a chair, holding out her hand. “Here, give me your phone and charger. I’ll watch them while you go get cleaned up. It will make you feel better.”

He digs the charger out of the bag, holding out the items to her. As she takes them, she adds one more thing.

“By the way, Dai-chan, I spoke to your parents while I was getting this stuff. They want you home by seven for dinner.”

Aomine stares at her for a second, then turns away without promising anything. Why should he go back just because his parents say to? Do they even care about the situation?

As though she knows what’s running through his head, Momoi calls after him. “I really think you ought to go home, Dai-chan! At the very least, sleep in your own bed.”

“I don’t need it,” he says over his shoulder, and then ducks into the bathroom before he can hear her reply.

It’s his first time getting a look at himself since the accident. His shirt is stiff after drying in his sweat, and his hair is getting greasy. Bruises have bloomed along the arm he landed on when he got out of the way of the car, and dark circles are already forming under his eyes. Even Aomine has to admit he looks like shit.

He strips off his shirt and wets paper towels in the sink. He uses them as a makeshift bath, rubbing dried sweat and dirt off his chest and arms. He peels off his shorts and does the same with his legs. He runs lukewarm water in the sink and dunks his head under it, giving his hair a rinse. It’s better than nothing.

Once he’s somewhat bathed, he changes into the fresh clothes Momoi brought him and brushes his teeth. He feels slightly less disgusting now, he supposes, but contrary to Momoi’s assertions, he doesn’t feel _better_.

He bags all his things up and walks out of the bathroom again, just in time to see a young nurse, different from the one from the night before, talking to Momoi.

“Ah, there he is,” she says, as he picks up the pace to get to their side. “Dai-chan, this nurse wants to talk to you!”

“Yeah, I’m here.” He tosses the bag into a chair unceremoniously, not taking his eyes off the nurse. “Is it about Kagami?”

“Ah, yes.” The nurse dips her head a bit. “You’re Aomine Daiki, right?”

“That’s me. How is he?”

“I’m not at liberty to say,” she begins, and Aomine is ready to protest, but she cuts him off, “but I was wondering if you would like to come back and speak with him yourself.”

Aomine feels his mind buzzing, and he nods. “Yeah. Take me to him.”

“Alright. Follow me.”

She walks back toward the Personnel Only doors. Aomine glances at Momoi, who smiles encouragingly and says, “Don’t worry, Dai-chan, I’ll watch your things,” and then he hurries to follow.

“This is against policy,” the nurse says quietly when he catches up to her again, following her through the door, “but he’s all alone until his dad arrives, and he’s been asking for you.” She sighs sympathetically. “He sustained serious injuries, and had to go through multiple surgeries – no young boy should have to face that alone, you see?”

Aomine doesn’t answer. He doesn’t really care about the nurse’s reasoning, so long as it gets him to Kagami’s side faster.

“If anyone asks, just tell them you’re his cousin,” she finishes, leading him through a door marked “Intensive Care.” There are beds lining one wall of the room here, ringed by privacy curtains. Most of them are closed, and Aomine can hear family members and doctors talking in hushed tones behind them. He waits anxiously for the nurse to stop, and they’re at the next to last bed before she finally does. Kagami’s curtain is closed, so Aomine can’t see him yet.

“He’s heavily medicated, so he might not be very lucid. Don’t worry if he has trouble focusing or falls asleep on you.” She nods at him. “You can go in now.”

Aomine doesn’t hesitate – he opens the curtain, finally seeing the bed and the boy behind it.

If Aomine thought _he_ looked terrible, Kagami looks so much worse.

His neck is in a brace, which keeps him from moving his head to look when Aomine comes in. One side of his face is heavily bruised, and Aomine can see more bruises on the same-side arm, turning his skin an ugly purple. He has at least three different tubes stuck in him, and Aomine wouldn’t be surprised if there are more where he can’t see. One of them is connected to a heart monitor, which steadily beats away.

“Whozzat?”

Kagami’s voice is slurred, but still recognizable. He strains a bit in his brace to see, and Aomine steps to the side of the bed and leans over him to help.

“Don’t hurt yourself more, Bakagami,” he admonishes, and Kagami can’t help but smile. His eyes are a bit unfocused, but they train on Aomine’s face. Aomine notices that it looks like he’s missing a tooth, four from the center.

“S’fine. My neck’s not even broken. They said this is a precaution.”

“I ought to break your neck and get the job over with. What were you doing getting hit by a car?”

Kagami frowns a little. “Wasn’t my idea.”

_I know,_ part of Aomine wants to say. _I’m glad you’re alive,_ another part. But the part that eventually speaks only says, “Stupid Bakagami,” before he sinks down in a small chair next to the bed.

“I don’t really remember,” Kagami says, moving his head in his brace slightly. Aomine leans forward so Kagami can see him better. “What happened?”

“We were crossing the street. Some asshole ran the light and hit you.” Aomine shrugs. “There’s nothing else.”

“Tha’s it?” Kagami’s brow wrinkles. “I remember something else.”

“Do you remember the part where I punched the guy who did it?”

“No. Jus’ remember you, mostly.”

Aomine remembers suddenly the part where he knelt by Kagami’s side, begging him not to die. He runs a hand through his hair and gives a huff through his nose. “It’s just like you to forget the best part.”

“Heh. Well, they said tha’s normal for shit like this. I’ll remember eventually.” He locks eyes with Aomine, and there’s concern in them. “You okay?”

_Worry more about yourself,_ Aomine wants to say. Instead, he holds up his splinted fingers for Kagami to see. “Just this, from when I dove out of the way of the car. Like _you_ should have.”

Kagami’s brow furrows again. “It took me by surprise, that’s all.”

“Bakagami.”

“Ahomine.”

And then, perhaps because the silliness of this line of insults in this situation tickles him, Kagami smiles, and then laughs a little, and Aomine feels something in his chest lighten.

_Tetsu was right. He’ll be okay._

“So. How have you been making it?” he asks, when Kagami finally quiets. He remembers what the nurse said, about how no one should have to face the surgeries Kagami’s been through alone. He wonders if Kagami was scared, but he doubts the other boy would ever admit it if he were.

Sure enough, he doesn’t.

“S’fine. I’ve been asleep most of the time.” He yawns, as though to prove it. “They’ve got me on some kinda painkillers.”

“Huh. Sounds boring.” Aomine yawns too, and whether it’s to prove it was boring, or an infectious yawn from Kagami, or just the aftereffects of a sleepless night, he won’t clarify. “Kinda glad they wouldn’t let me come back here.”

“You asked?”

Aomine starts. He hadn’t meant to reveal that when he said it, but now it’s out there. And he doubts there will be any denying that he stayed here all night, either.

He sighs, looking away from Kagami. “Yeah. I thought you were gonna die, so… you know.”

When he looks back, after several seconds of silence, Kagami has a big grin on his face. Aomine feels his cheeks starting to heat a bit, and he scowls to offset it. “What’s _that_ look for?”

“No reason,” Kagami says, though he’s still grinning. “Just… thanks for not leaving, I guess.”

Aomine doesn’t stop scowling, even as he feels a lump in his throat. “Who says I didn’t leave?”

“You really gonna try to convince me you didn’t? With those rings under your eyes?”

Aomine turns his face away. “Shut up. My fingers hurt. They didn’t give _me_ any painkillers.”

Kagami laughs again, then stops in a fit of coughing. Suddenly losing his embarrassment, Aomine half rises out of his chair, leaning over Kagami. It takes him longer than it really should, in Aomine’s opinion, but eventually Kagami stops coughing.

“S-sorry.”

“What the hell? It sounds like you have the flu, hacking like that,” Aomine snaps, his voice betraying his worry. For a moment there, it had almost been possible to forget how hurt Kagami is.

“Yeah. It happens sometimes.” Without offering any more explanation, Kagami leans his head back a bit and closes his eyes. “Sorry, I’m… getting really tired.”

Aomine hesitates, then sinks back down in his chair, rubbing his eyes while Kagami can’t see. “Yeah. Get some sleep.”

“But they… finally let you back here,” Kagami protests, struggling to open his eyes again.

Aomine scoffs. “I’ll still be here when you wake up, so just go to sleep.”

“You will?”

“Fragile” is not a word Aomine would have ever used to describe Kagami in the past, but for the first time, he thinks he could.

“That’s what I just said. Did you lose your hearing when the car hit you?”

But that doesn’t mean he’ll treat Kagami that way.

Kagami snorts in forced amusement, and lets his eyes close again. “Nah, I just…”

Whatever Kagami was going to say dies in a mumble as he falls asleep. Aomine watches him for awhile to make sure he’s not about to wake up, then he sinks further in his chair and leans his head against the top of the back and closes his own eyes.

Despite the uncomfortable position, he sleeps more deeply than he has in twenty-four hours.

* * *

 

He wakes up when the nurse from before slides past him to check one of Kagami’s tubes, bumping against his knees.

Aomine opens his eyes and stretches a bit in his seat, then watches the nurse. From what he can tell, Kagami is still asleep, oblivious to the bustling woman beside him.

When she’s done, she turns and catches Aomine’s eye. Without saying anything, she motions at him to move outside, then walks past him. Reluctantly, he gets up from his seat, casting one look back at the bed before following her out.

He’s already prepared a speech about why he can’t leave Kagami alone, but the nurse doesn’t even suggest it.

“He seems much more relaxed now. He woke up for a bit while you were asleep, and was very calm.”

“Yeah? Are you sure that’s not the medicine?”

“Yes, I am sure.” Her brow creases with concern. “I shouldn’t be telling you this, but… when he would wake up before, his heart rate would spike, and he became very distressed.”

“And you think _I’m_ helping with that?” Aomine is skeptical. Normally he riles Kagami up more than he calms him down.

“Yes, I do.” The nurse smiles at him, her face smoothing out. “He asked for you, after all. Sometimes just having a familiar face around is all anyone needs.”

Aomine doesn’t know what to say to that. “Will his father be here soon?” is what he asks instead.

“It’s been awhile since we talked to Kagami-kun’s father, but he was boarding a plane then. He should be here by tonight. You do know that once he’s here, you’ll have to leave, right?”

Aomine doesn’t say anything to that either. “Do you know how long he’ll be in the hospital?”

“Usually for spinal injuries like this, they stay in the hospital for eight weeks or so, sometimes longer. Then he’ll need several months of outpatient therapy after that.”

_Eight weeks!?_ He’s going to miss the InterHigh. Aomine’s heart sinks, but he supposes he can’t expect much better, with how badly Kagami is hurt.

“When he’s stable enough, we’ll move him out of the ICU. Then you’ll be able to visit him during normal visiting hours.”

“But for now, I can stay until his dad gets here?”

“Yes. I think that would be best.”

She looks down at the chart she’s holding, preparing to move on to the next patient. “If you need anything, just let me know. I’ll see if I can help.”

“Thanks.”

“It’s no trouble. I’ll be back later.”

Then she’s off, heading through the next curtain. Aomine doesn’t watch after her, instead returning to Kagami’s bedside.

He’s still asleep, though this time Aomine doesn’t join him. Instead, he sits and listens to the steady beep of Kagami’s heart monitor, the slight wheeze of his breath through an oxygen tube that’s been put in his nose.

Eight weeks. They can make it through that. Aomine is sure.

* * *

 

About an hour later, a different staff member comes in, carrying the bag Momoi brought him earlier.

“Aomine Daiki?” he asks for confirmation, and Aomine nods, reaching a hand out for the bag.

“A young lady in the waiting room sent this for you. She said to tell you that your phone is in there as well.”

“Thanks,” he says flatly, digging through the bag for said phone and not looking up as the man leaves. There’s a missed call from his parents (which goes ignored) and some texts from Momoi.

_Dai-chan! I have to go home now, so I’ve asked the nurse to bring you your stuff._

_I guess you already got it so you know! Haha!_

_Tell Kagamin to get better soon! And you better go home and get some rest, Dai-chan!_

Aomine sends her a terse, “Thanks,” and doesn’t text anything else. He pulls out the snacks Momoi brought him and eats them all, one after the other, while watching Kagami’s sleeping form. It’s miraculous, how talking to Kagami restored his appetite. Maybe Kagami’s hunger is infectious.

He’s just finished all the snacks when Kagami wakes up again. He opens his eyes, Aomine straightens up a bit and says, “Hey-“ and then Kagami is suddenly coughing harshly, head actually lifting from the pillow.

“Kagami!?”

Aomine jumps out of his chair, leaning over Kagami. His hands reach out and flex, as though to help, but he doesn’t know what to do. He’s useless as he watches Kagami hack and cough, so much he can barely wheeze breathes of air in. His heart monitor is beeping too fast, and all other sound is drowned out as Aomine’s own heart speeds up in time with the beeping.

He barely notices when he’s being pushed back until there are nurses in front of him, trying to steady his cough.

“It’s alright, Kagami-kun,” says the nurse from before, soothingly rubbing a hand on his arm. “Get your breath back. There you go.”

The heart monitor settles back down, and Kagami’s head sinks back against the pillow. He’s still wheezing, and he looks exhausted, but the coughing is over now.

The nurses check some of the wires and change his IV bag. Then they bustle back out, leaving Kagami and Aomine alone again.

“…What the hell was that?” Aomine asks once he finds his voice. Somehow he feels more winded than Kagami.

“Like I said, it happens.” Kagami’s voice is hoarse, his eyes fluttering shut. “They said the injury to my spine lowered my lung capacity, or something like that.”

“Lowered lung capacity?” Aomine repeats, incredulous. “What does that have to do with your spine?”

“That’s what I thought.” Kagami gives another weak cough, and Aomine tenses, but he doesn’t devolve into a fit like before. “S’weird, right? Getting your spine hurt fucks up a lot of stuff you wouldn’t expect.”

“Huh.” Aomine wonders what else is hurt, but he’s not sure Kagami knows how to answer yet. Instead, he says, “They said you’ll be in here for eight weeks.”

“Eight!?” Kagami’s eyes open again, and he frowns up at Aomine. “I’m gonna miss the InterHigh.”

Aomine can’t help but grin. “At least it saves you from the pain of a humiliating defeat.”

“You wish,” huffs Kagami, but he’s still frowning. “How am I gonna survive for eight weeks in bed?”

“You could always read.”

“Tch.”

“Play video games?”

That gets a slightly more favorable look out of him. “I guess I could watch basketball, too.”

“Yeah.” Aomine shrugs. “Eight weeks without school or homework doesn’t sound like such a bad time to me.”

“But it’s eight weeks without playing,” says Kagami mournfully, and Aomine doesn’t know how to make it sound better. If it were Aomine himself, maybe he could survive eight weeks without practice… but surviving eight weeks without a game would be harder. And Kagami isn’t Aomine – the idiot lives and breathes the sport. He might just suffocate in the hospital.

“Yeah. But you’ll make it through alright.”

Aomine isn’t looking at Kagami, eyes on his heart monitor, so he doesn’t see Kagami’s expression. When he finally looks back, Kagami’s eyes are closed again.

Just as Aomine is thinking he fell back asleep, Kagami says, “You gonna come visit me?”

“If I feel like it.”

Kagami smiles a little. “Alright. But you better be ready to entertain me.”

“Tch. Just appreciate my presence.”

“Heh. That’s asking a lot.”

Aomine sits down. Kagami falls back to sleep.

* * *

 

He watches Kagami for another hour before the curtain opens again, abruptly this time. There’s a man standing there, with once dark hair that is starting to turn salt-and-pepper and a suitcase with a fresh skid mark from an airport baggage carrousel.

Aomine can only assume this is Kagami’s father, and his stomach sinks.

The man doesn’t acknowledge Aomine’s presence, instead rushing to his son’s side, taking in the sight before him – all the tubes and wires running to Kagami, his bruises and cuts, the way he looks… small, almost, and Aomine frowns to himself at that thought. But it’s true, isn’t it? Kagami seems too tiny in the bed, surrounded by machines.

“Son? Taiga?” he says, reaching out to tap at Kagami’s shoulder to wake him. Kagami stirs, and Aomine tenses, but thankfully he doesn’t erupt into coughing like the time before. “Hey there.”

“Dad?” Kagami blinks his eyes twice, trying to focus. When he finally does, he smiles, a little relieved. “Hey.”

Kagami’s father laughs lightly, moving his hand from Kagami’s shoulder to his hair and giving it a very light ruffle. “Hey champ. What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into this time?”

“’S no big deal,” Kagami slurs a little, his eyes drifting to half-mast. He’s still sleepy from the painkillers, Aomine supposes. “I’ll be outta here in… in no time.”

“Take it easy, Taiga,” his father admonishes, removing his hand from his son’s hair. “I just wanted you to know I’m here, alright? Go back to sleep, I’ll take care of everything.”

Kagami listens to that advice, eyes shutting completely. He’s snoring lightly in seconds, and Aomine watches him, still sitting in the same chair.

“Are you… Aomine Daiki?” the elder Kagami asks suddenly, and Aomine looks at him briefly, before training his eyes back on Kagami’s face.

“Yeah.”

“They told me you were here. Thank you for staying with my son.”

Aomine shrugs. He should really be more polite, but he doesn’t really want to play nice with the man right now, when he’ll most likely be thrown out at any minute.

Kagami’s father is not deterred by his reticence. “How has he been, while you’ve been back here?”

“He sleeps a lot.” Aomine shrugs again. “But he talks and laughs when he’s awake.”

“That’s good. That’s very good.” He sounds relieved, and Aomine looks up at him again. The relief is clear on his face as well, and while that should be expected, a parent relieved to learn their child seems to be alright (all things considered), something about that expression makes Aomine tense up.

He wonders if Kagami’s father is relieved for his son’s health, or if he’s just relieved he’ll be able to return soon to his fancy job in America.

He doesn’t ask, though. He tries not to draw any attention to himself at all as the man goes in search of another chair. Maybe the staff will forget he’s here and he’ll be able to stay another night.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen. A nurse comes by only minutes later, giving him a thin smile.

“I’m sorry, Aomine-kun, but you need to go now. You can come see your friend during normal visiting hours once he’s moved to a room.”

Aomine wants to argue, but he doubts it will work, and the last thing he needs to do is piss off the staff. If he obeys now, maybe he’ll have a better chance of coming back tomorrow.

So he stands up, looking down at Kagami, lying still in his bed. He feels like he should be doing something to let Kagami know he’s leaving, but Kagami’s father is watching, and Aomine isn’t sure how much Kagami has told him about them.

In the end, he fists his hand and gently raps his knuckles against Kagami’s.

Then he leaves the hospital, and heads home.


	3. Diagnosis

“I’m home.”

He doesn’t get an answer, and Aomine thinks he can slip up to his room unnoticed. He hasn’t quite made it to the stairs, however, when his mother suddenly appears in the kitchen doorway, holding a bowl of rice.

“There you are, Daiki! Dinner is ready.”

Aomine almost says he’s not hungry, but his stomach growls and reminds him that he hasn’t eaten a real meal since lunch the day before. He drops the bag Momoi brought him at the foot of the stairs and changes course for the kitchen.

“Oh goodness, Daiki! So that’s what that _hooligan_ did to your hand,” his mother titters as he sits down at the table, grabbing his hand to display the splinted fingers to his father. Aomine could care less about his fingers at the moment, and yanks his hand away so he can reach for the soy sauce.

“They already got the guy who did it.”

“Yes, that’s what the police said. They called us earlier today.” Aomine’s father pauses to ladle out some rice before continuing. “Of course he was drunk when he hit you. We definitely have a case to make sure he pays for everything.”

“He didn’t hit _me_ ,” Aomine reminds him dully, feeling a pit in his stomach at the reminder. “He hit Kagami.”

“Of course, dear, and we’re keeping his family in our thoughts.”

“He’s not _dead_ ,” Aomine growls, glaring at his mother. She doesn’t even look up at him.

“Yes, of course not. But having their child in such a condition would be a strain on any parent.”

“That reminds me,” says his father, pointing a chopstick at Aomine. “Do you know Kagami-san’s phone number? Or even Kagami-kun’s number would be alright in this case.”

“Why?”

“I wanted to ask him if he wants to file a joint suit against the driver. It would save a bit on lawyer fees if we’re going in at the same time, and it could make our case even stronger, since his son sustained the most damage.”

Aomine stands up abruptly, grabbing his plate with one hand. “I’m going to eat dinner in my room.”

His parents acknowledge him by giving a wave in his direction, and he stomps up the stairs. He doesn’t have much of an appetite anymore, but he eats anyway. It’s something to do.

His mother comes up once he’s already in bed, peeking around the door. “Daiki?” He grunts in response. “Be sure you go to school tomorrow, alright?”

Aomine rolls over to face the wall. “Yeah, Okaa-san. I’ll go to school.”

* * *

Aomine does _not_ go to school.

He’s only in the waiting room for fifteen minutes before a nurse comes out, talking to another group about a different patient. Aomine gets up from his chair and stands only a few steps behind her, waiting with visible impatience for her to finish what she’s doing and turn around.

“Can I help you?” she asks as she finally swivels to face him, and Aomine is slightly dismayed. He’d thought he was being stealthy like Kuroko, but it’s harder to do when you’re the tallest guy in the room.

He doesn’t dwell on it, instead cutting right to the chase.

“Can you tell me anything about Kagami Taiga?”

She studies him for a moment, then asks, “Who are you?” Aomine scowls, but answers the question. “Wait here,” she says, and then she’s gone through the personnel door before Aomine can say anything more.

He’s sat back in a chair on the verge of sulking when the nurse returns, beckoning toward him from the doorway. “Come with me, please.”

Aomine’s surprised that he’s even allowed back again, but he doesn’t complain, jumping to his feet and hastily following her through the same hallway to the same room and the same curtain.

“Kagami-san asked for you to come back,” she explains, and it takes Aomine a beat to realize she means the elder Kagami. He nods, like he expected that, and pushes through the curtain before she can even reach for it.

Kagami is awake, and his neck brace has been removed. He was watching his heart monitor with disinterest, but he looks away and brightens a little when Aomine enters, the corner of his lip turning up just a bit. Aomine takes one big step to get to his side.

“Are you ditching school?”

“What are you talking about? School ended a few hours ago.”

Kagami’s eyes widen in surprise. “It’s that late? Are you serious?”

“No, idiot. I’m ditching school.”

Kagami scowls. “Hey, there aren’t any windows in here! How am I supposed to know?”

“Ever heard of a clock?”

“There’s a clock in here?”

Aomine points at one on the wall above Kagami’s head. Kagami tries to look, but the angle is too severe for him to see, and he gives a huff of annoyance.

“I can’t _see_ that, asshole.”

“ _Language_ , sport,” says a voice, and Aomine’s head jerks up. For the first time he notices Kagami’s father there, holding a cellphone to his ear with one hand over it to muffle the sound. He gives them a dismissive wave and then goes back to his phone call, stepping outside the curtain, though they can still hear him chattering just on the other side.

“Heh. You got in trouble,” Aomine taunts, and Kagami flips him off. Aomine can’t help but snicker, but the merriment quickly dies off when he gets a good look at Kagami.

Kagami looks… not _tired_ , that’s not the right word, though Aomine certainly thinks he looks tired too, even with all the sleeping he’s done. But there is definitely something weighing him down, sapping the energy right out of him.

He seems full of dread.

“Are you okay?” Aomine asks after almost a minute of uncomfortable silence. The question sounds too abrupt, but he doesn’t know any more delicate ways to approach the subject. He did well enough not to note that Kagami looks like shit.

He’s expecting Kagami to brush that off with a laugh and a smile, even if he doesn’t feel up to it, because that’s the way Kagami _is_. So it throws Aomine off when Kagami _doesn’t_ do that. He doesn’t even make a crack about Aomine worrying about him.

“Fine,” is all he says.

Silence crawls over them again; Aomine can hear the ever-present beep of the heart monitor and Kagami’s father squabbling with someone over the phone. Kagami’s not looking at him, so Aomine is forced to look elsewhere as well, once again taking in all the medical equipment surrounding Kagami’s bed.

“What do you need all this stuff for, anyway?” he asks out loud, just to end the silence. He’s not expecting Kagami to answer, and gives a small jump when Kagami does.

“So I don’t die.”

Aomine snorts out a laugh, because that _has_ to be a joke. Kagami was hurt badly by the car, but he’s still alive, and that’s the way he’s going to stay. Another possibility had not crossed Aomine’s mind since he first got to visit Kagami the day before.

But Kagami does not laugh with him. Instead, he just closes his eyes and breathes slowly.

And then he coughs, and Aomine feels his chest suddenly tighten.

“You’re serious?”

“Yeah.”

“But you’re fine! What would you even die _of_?”

“Blood clots, heart attacks, pneumonia-“

“Pneumonia!?”

“I told you, spinal injuries fuck with your lungs!” Kagami sighs, opening his eyes and looking at Aomine with too serious of an expression. “I probably won’t die. The doctor said I was in good health before and have a lower chance of anything… going wrong. But I’m still…”

Kagami trails off, taking in Aomine’s expression. He looks like a deer caught in the headlights, eyes too wide and mouth slightly open. Normally it would have made Kagami laugh freely, but not today.

Instead, his laugh is a forced sound, clearly faked only for Aomine’s benefit. He turns his gaze away, bashfully scratching at his hair with one hand (Aomine wonders if anyone has been washing it).

“Hah, never mind. Just forget I said anything.”

Aomine wants to say, “Fuck that,” because how is he supposed to forget Kagami saying he might die? Kagami is a true idiot if he thinks Aomine is going to let that go.

His urge to yell at the idiot over just that is strong, but after a moment he backs down. Kagami looks too tired, and too strangely emotional, and for once Aomine just can’t bring such barbed words to his tongue. This isn’t helping Kagami, and it’s not helping him, either. For once, Aomine has to find a solution that isn’t bickering.

Kagami’s hand is lying palm up on his bed, and without really thinking, Aomine reaches out and covers it with his own. Kagami’s head snaps back to him, eyes wide and mouth parted in that same deer in the headlights look Aomine knows he had earlier, but Aomine doesn’t back down. He can feel Kagami’s hand trembling in his, and Aomine realizes that what he felt on Kagami earlier wasn’t dread, it was _fear_.

“You’re not gonna die,” he says finally. He reaches out with his other hand, putting it on Kagami’s shoulder, and leans down so they’re only inches apart. He feels like he’s boxed Kagami in, but it seems like Kagami doesn’t mind at all.

“You’re not gonna die. You’re gonna be fine. I’m going to get my revenge on you during the Winter Cup. All of that is definitely gonna happen.”

Kagami stares at him for what feels like too long, and then he cracks a little smile, cocking his head at Aomine. “That last part sounds like a long shot.”

“Oh, it’s gonna happen. I have tricks up my sleeve you haven’t seen yet.”

“Hah. I’m looking forward to it.”

And then, suddenly, Kagami is leaning up, burying his face in Aomine’s shirt, one of his arms coming up to wrap around Aomine’s back – Aomine can feel a wire pressing against him. Aomine freezes, not sure how to handle this sudden development – Kagami is more physical than he is, sure, but he’s not normally affectionate, if that’s what this can be called.

In the end, Aomine stays still, letting Kagami hide there as long as he needs. He listens to the beat of the heart monitor the whole time, and it stays blessedly steady.

The screech of the curtain rings against the metal pole cause them to jerk apart a bit prematurely. Kagami can’t hold in a grunt as he falls back on the pillows, and Aomine wonders if he was straining his back leaning up like that. He doesn’t ask, though, because Kagami’s father walks back in, thankfully not noticing his son’s hand in Aomine’s before Aomine pulls away. He watches Kagami’s hand tense, then relax.

“Aomine-kun, I’m glad you’re here,” says Kagami’s father. He doesn’t question why Aomine is there instead of at school, thankfully. “Do you mind staying here with Taiga while I run back to the hotel to take a shower?”

“I don’t mind.” In fact, Aomine feels some relief. It will be easier to hang out with Kagami without being under his father’s scrutiny.

“Thank you. I won’t be gone more than an hour.” He walks over and puts a hand on Kagami’s shoulder. “Will you be okay, son?”

“I’m fine, Dad.”

“Alright. I’ll be back soon.”

He gives them a little wave before he leaves. Aomine listens to his footsteps retreat down the hallway before speaking again.

“So your dad seriously just… leaves you here?”

“He has to go shower. It’s the first time he’s left.”

Aomine doesn’t say anything to that. He thinks about what Kagami just told him, that he could die at any moment (he said almost as much, anyway), and wonders why anyone would willingly leave Kagami here, alone.

Then again, he can’t say much himself on what parents should or shouldn’t do, so he doesn’t argue the point.

They sit in silence for a few minutes, and then suddenly Kagami groans, almost making Aomine panic. But Kagami is not in pain.

“The worst thing about being cooped up in here is that it’s so _boring_.” He cranes his neck a bit to look at Aomine. “Aren’t you supposed to be helping with that?”

“Ugh, so demanding.” Aomine puts his arms behind his head and leans back in his chair, eyes closed. “So what do you want me to do to entertain you? Has to be something that won’t get me thrown out.”

Kagami laughs at that, but then shrugs. “I don’t know… Did you bring cards or anything?”

Aomine wonders why he didn’t think of that. “No. I will tomorrow.”

“It’s alright. I don’t know if I could stay awake through a whole card game anyway.”

Aomine pushes the chair back on two legs to think, then lets it fall again with a snap against the floor. “Hey, there were some games on last night. I guess you didn’t get to watch them, huh?” Kagami shakes his head, and Aomine pulls out his phone and starts tapping to his internet browser. “Why don’t I read you the highlights?”

Kagami’s eyes instantly light up. “Yeah, that would be great!” He’s smiling, the big, goofy smile he gets sometimes when talking about his true love, basketball. Aomine can’t look at it too long or be blinded. “I don’t care which game, give me all of them.”

“Alright, alright. Calm down.” Aomine pulls one up, the recounting of a pro game in America. He knows for sure Kagami will be interested in that one. “Here, the Knicks played the Bulls last night, how’s that for a start?”

Kagami wiggles down into the covers like a child about to be read a bedtime story and Aomine isn’t sure whether to scoff or smile. In the end, he just gives his head a little shake and pulls up the game highlights.

Before he knows it, they’re in a deep discussion about the Knicks, their strategy, the Bulls’ players, the other high school teams in the region and whether they’re going to be contenders for the coming season. They both skirt the topic of their own teams, neither of them wanting to acknowledge that Kagami himself won’t be joining Seirin until winter, but they enjoy the conversation all the same. It feels like before the accident, when they were able to talk and laugh and didn’t have a care in the world. Back when everything was normal.

But there’s the steady beep of the heart monitor, a constant reminder that things are _not_ normal.

Eventually Kagami’s speech gets more and more slurred, and then he’s snoring, interrupting Aomine in the middle of describing a particularly good play from a game earlier in the year. Aomine gives a huff of displeasure that sounds a bit too fond, standing up to make sure Kagami looks like he’s sleeping peacefully.

He still looks too small in the bed. He does seem relaxed in his sleep, though, and that makes Aomine relax as well.

Without thinking too much about it, he leans down, smoothing Kagami’s bangs back from his forehead. He’s not sure where the urge comes from, but suddenly he wants to kiss Kagami.

“You’re going to be fine,” he whispers, not wanting to wake Kagami up – especially in this compromising position. “You’re not going to die. You’re going to be okay.”

Then he presses a kiss to Kagami’s forehead, quickly before anyone can see.

As he’s sitting back down in his chair, he notices Kagami’s hand resting atop the covers, palm up once again.

He reaches out and covers it with his own, and waits for Kagami to wake up.

* * *

The next few days pass fairly similarly: Aomine goes to the hospital, where he’s allowed back by Kagami’s father. He sits with Kagami, reading basketball commentary or funny things he saw online. It keeps Kagami in good spirits, and he seems to be improving every day. His coughing fits get fewer and farther between, and sound much less alarming than before, and though he still sleeps a lot due to his medication, he seems more alert while awake. The nurses start to talk about moving him to a room, which his father insists on being private.

“I’ll be glad to get out of the ICU,” says Kagami often. “It’s loud and hot in here.” When his father isn’t around, Aomine likes to retort that loud and hot aren’t always bad things.

Once, when Kagami’s father steps out to make yet another phone call, Aomine asks Kagami what he knows about their relationship. “Well, I haven’t actually told him, but I think he’s got some idea. I mean, why else would you be here so much?”

“I’m not here _that_ much.”

Kagami laughs, ignoring Aomine’s displeased look. “Have they called your parents to tell them how many days of class you’ve skipped out on this week?”

As it turns out, they had. His parents are waiting for him when he returns home, and he gets a chewing out that lasts almost forty minutes while he sits despondently in a chair. The scolding ends with his mother throwing her hands up and declaring she doesn’t know what to do with him, and his father threating to take his cell phone off their plan if he doesn’t start going back to school.

So he starts going back to school, and he naps and daydreams through lessons, waiting for the end of the day. Momoi asks him if he’s going to practice on the first day, to which he gives a noncommittal grunt.

After his last class, he heads for the hospital.

Kagami gets moved to a private room after ten days in the ICU, and Aomine is there, every weekday afternoon, every Sunday morning, for over two weeks.

* * *

 

It’s a warm Tuesday afternoon when Aomine passes by Maji Burger, and for the first time stops and turns back to go inside. Kagami’s biggest complaint about the hospital is the food, and Aomine thinks he should bring Kagami something different (just to stop his whining, of course).

The cashier seems to remember him, and is braced for his order of ten burgers to go. The kitchen kicks up in a scurry to get the food to him while Aomine idly looks at his phone.

_Still not coming to practice today, Dai-chan? Tell Kagamin I said hi!_

He scowls at Momoi’s text, flipping the phone shut. He hates how obvious it is where he’s going, at least to her. He doesn’t want her getting the wrong idea about what’s going on. It’s not like he cares, but he’ll never get sex again if he doesn’t keep reminding the world’s biggest basketball idiot that he still exists.

His order finally delivered, Aomine grabs the large bag and makes his way to the hospital.

Aomine can hear Kagami’s father’s voice through the door when he gets to Kagami’s room. He’s clearly arguing with someone on the phone, and Aomine thinks to himself that he should really go somewhere else to do that. Kagami could be trying to sleep.

He catches himself and wonders when he began to consider things like that.

His newfound consideration isn’t so great that it stops him from opening the door. He walks in, sidestepping the elder Kagami on his way to the bedside of the younger.

Kagami was typing something in his phone, but when he sees Aomine he puts it down, smiling. Aomine pauses at that smile – it’s not like Kagami didn’t smile before, but lately his smiles have been different, in a way Aomine can’t really name.

Perhaps as Aomine gets more considerate, Kagami gets more grateful.

He doesn’t spare much mental energy to figuring it out, though. As long as Kagami looks happy, things are okay.

“Hey. I wasn’t sure if you were going to show up today.” Kagami’s smile turns joking, and Aomine can’t help but smirk back at him.

“You’re a little more interesting than watching paint dry so I thought I would come.” He holds up the bag. “Here.”

He tosses them in Kagami’s lap, whose face lights up. “Burgers? Maji burgers?”

“Yeah. They’re getting cold so I don’t want ‘em.”

Kagami is barely listening to him as he rips the bag open and pulls out a burger, unwrapping it with fervor. “I don’t care if they’re freezing. This hospital food sucks.”

He takes a huge, Kagami-sized bite and groans rapturously as he chews, closing his eyes and leaning his head back. “Mmph. This ish sho good,” he says, mouth full, and Aomine scowls in disgust.

“Ugh. Close your mouth, Bakagami.”

Kagami doesn’t seem in the least concerned about being judged. He keeps making an elaborate show of enjoying the burger, until his father ends his call and steps to the edge of the bed.

“Taiga, show some restraint, please,” he says with distaste. “Are you sure you should be eating something like that?”

“Come on, Dad,” Kagami huffs, still around a mouth full of food. “If I eat any more of that crap hospital food I’m gonna die.”

His dad sighs. “I suppose it can’t be helped. You don’t even listen to your old man anymore…”

Kagami rolls his eyes, then closes them again and makes even more orgasmic noises over the hamburger. Aomine wishes Kagami’s dad would leave the room – the innuendos are writing themselves, but he can’t even say any of them.

“Anyway, Aomine-kun,” Mr. Kagami says, pulling Aomine’s attention away from Kagami’s face stuffing, “I’m glad you’re here. If you don’t mind, could you please keep Taiga company for awhile? I need to meet some people back at the apartment.”

“Yeah. I was planning to stay for awhile anyway.”

“Good, good.” Mr. Kagami nods, pleased. “We’re getting the tub replaced with a wheelchair accessible shower today. It’s very nice.”

Aomine blinks. “Wheelchair accessible?” He vaguely notices Kagami has stopped eating.

“Of course.” Mr. Kagami nods again. “I own that apartment, so we’re getting several modifications done to it so it will be wheelchair ready for Taiga. I wanted to move him to one that was already accessible, but he’s attached to the place, and it _is_ close to his school-“

“I get it.” Aomine cuts him off. “But isn’t that a little excessive? I know he has a few months of therapy after he leaves the hospital, but-”

Mr. Kagami stares at him in confusion. “That is how long his physical therapy will take, but I’m not sure what that has to do with anything. After all, he can’t walk.”

Aomine feels the edges of his vision darken, narrowing further and further on a point somewhere past Kagami’s father’s head. “What do you mean? That’s what the therapy is for, isn’t it?”

“Didn’t Taiga tell you?” Mr. Kagami’s voice gets softer. “My son… Taiga is paralyzed from the waist down. He’s never going to walk again.”

Aomine’s ears ring as he turns around, staring at Kagami. Kagami still isn’t eating, has dropped the second burger into his lap with only one bite missing. He’s not looking at Aomine, and that pisses him off.

“What the _hell_ , Kagami,” he says, taking a step toward the bed. Behind him he hears Kagami’s father making a noise of protest, but he ignores it. “Were you ever going to tell me about this?”

“I was gonna!” Kagami snaps, overly defensive. “I just… there wasn’t a good moment, you know?”

“A good moment? What the hell does that _mean_?”

“I didn’t know how you would react!”

“So what!? That isn’t exactly something you keep from me, you know!”

“Why is it any of your business, anyway!?” Kagami yells, and Aomine feels himself actually flinch.

“What the fuck are you saying!? Of course it’s my business-“

“ _Aomine-kun_ ,” says Mr. Kagami forcefully, his hand on Aomine’s shoulder, and Aomine realizes his hands were balled into fists. “I think that’s quite enough.”

Aomine jerks his shoulder out of the man’s grip. “He started it,” is all he says, before he’s out the door.

* * *

His thoughts are an angry whirlwind as he stomps out of the hospital. Where does Kagami get off, not telling him something that important? What was he going to say when he showed up in a wheelchair in eight weeks? “Sorry, I forgot to tell you I’ll never walk again”?

It’s easier to stay angry at Kagami than it is to confront anything else about the situation – what this means for Kagami, for him, for _them_. Aomine doesn’t know what to do with those questions, so he doesn’t give them any thought. Instead, he fumes at Kagami keeping secrets from him – huge secrets. Was he doing it just to piss Aomine off? Honestly.

_Why is it any of your business, anyway!?_

Kagami’s words echo in his head as he walks down the street, but he can’t make any sense of them. How could it possibly not be his business? Aomine is his… person who goes on outings that could be called dates with him. He should have been the first person to know. _Is_ he the first person to know, or is it just Aomine who wasn’t privileged to the information?

He considers asking Kuroko – if anyone would know besides him, it would be Kagami’s best friend. But his pride is wounded, and if Kuroko _does_ know, he doesn’t want Kuroko learning that he hadn’t been trusted with the big secret.

But if Kuroko _doesn’t_ know… he _should_.

Aomine’s angry, and some part of him wants to spread the truth around. That would teach Kagami not to keep such huge secrets. Then he could have fun explaining to everyone else how it isn’t “any of their business” that he can never walk again. Then he can know how it feels to have his trust-

Aomine stops that train of thought with a slow breath, in and out through his nose. He and Kagami weren’t like that, after all. Sure, they had fun together, played basketball together, had sex together… but it wasn’t like they did all that mushy, lovey dovey crap like in the movies. Whatever trust they had was surface level, at best. Aomine knew that going in.

At least it hurts less to think that way.

He’s still mad as hell when he arrives home, though. Angrily, he types a text into his phone (“Kagami Taiga can’t walk anymore”) and starts addressing it to everyone in his phonebook who also knows Kagami. It’s a shorter list than he would have liked, but news will travel fast.

He’s staring at his contacts, wondering why he has two numbers for Murasakibara and wondering which is the real one, when he gets a text.

_I’m sorry I didn’t tell you._

Aomine closes the message angrily, trying to ignore it. He doesn’t want that asshole’s apologies, he wants petty revenge.

He picks one of the Murasakibaras out of frustration and is scrolling around for Kise when his phone vibrates, announcing another message from Kagami. And a few seconds later, another.

Aomine silences his phone and sets it down on the desk in his room, without sending the message out. Without opening Kagami’s texts. He lays down on his futon, unmade from that morning, and stares up at the ceiling. When his mother calls that dinner is ready, he says he’s not hungry, and they don’t bother him again.

He stays that way all night, and barely sleeps.


	4. Visiting Hours

Aomine wakes too early to go to school yet. Of course, the one day he would rather have school to distract him from his phone, and it’s not even open until later.

He rolls over and tries to go back to sleep, but he can’t. His brain is still racing, still echoing with Kagami’s words from the day before. He wonders what’s in the texts.

_Might as well see what the bastard has to say for himself._

He gets up and gets his phone off the desk. The battery is low because he forgot to charge it, but he ignores the warning and opens his texts. There’s six new ones from Kagami.

_I’m sorry I didn’t tell you._

_I meant what I said, that I really didn’t know a way to say it. I didn’t want to make a good conversation suck, or a sucky conversation even suckier._

_And I guess it’s not easy for me to accept._

_Everyone kept talking to me like I’m going to get better. Like I’m going to be playing again in the winter._

_And with everyone talking like that, it was easy to believe it._

_Guess I was just kidding myself, huh?_

An hour passed between that text and the next one – Kagami waiting for an answer that didn’t come.

_I get that you’re pissed at me or whatever. I should’ve told you as soon as I knew. Just let me know that you got home okay. Or something._

Aomine stares at the texts for a long time, reading them over and over again. His eyes keep lingering on the fourth text – that’s the one that makes it easier to understand.

Finally, he texts back.

_Does anyone else know?_

He expected to wait a few hours for the answer, so he’s surprised when there’s a reply only minutes later.

_No. Besides my dad and the hospital people._

So he was the first after all. Aomine feels something unknot in his chest. He still feels a little angry (how does he know Kagami actually _planned_ to tell him first?), but knowing that he wasn’t out of the loop makes it sting less.

_Ok._

_And yes I got home alright, mom._

While he’s waiting for the return text, he opens his drafts. There’s the message from the night before, still waiting for him, its list of recipients lined up and ready to go.

Aomine presses “Delete Draft,” and the text is lost forever, just as Kagami replies.

_Fuck you._

Aomine wants to laugh. Aomine wants to pretend like things are back to normal.

But they’re not.

* * *

 

The walk to Kagami’s room feels different this time from all the times before. Maybe it’s the fluorescent lighting that’s harsher on his eyes, or the antiseptic smell that permeates all hospitals clinging even more to his skin and clothing. Maybe it’s because he usually rushes down the hall, but today he drags his feet, willing the distance between himself and the room to stretch rather than shrink.

Whatever it is, it gives the whole building a different atmosphere, and Aomine feels it weighing down on him. He feels strangely tired when he gets to Kagami’s room, and goes to sink down in a chair immediately, grateful that Kagami’s father is not currently present.

“Hey,” says Kagami, sounding nervous. “I, uh. Wasn’t sure if you were comin’.”

“Huh? Why wouldn’t I come?” he drawls, like that was a stupid assumption on Kagami’s part. Though, he would be lying if he said he hadn’t considered skipping out on today more than once.

“It’s just that… you seemed pretty pissed off.” Kagami scratches his nose in agitation. Aomine notices that the bruises that were on his arm have faded away.

“I _was_ pissed off.” Aomine leans his head back on the chair, eyes fixed on the ceiling. “But I guess I got what you said. About pretending.”

“Oh. Uh, then… good.”

The two of them are silent for too long, and it’s not a comfortable silence. Aomine can hear rustling from the bed, and he imagines Kagami opening his mouth multiple times, only for no words to come out. He should say something to help. Instead, he sits quietly and waits for Kagami to decide what he wants to say.

Finally, Kagami _does_ speak. “I told Kuroko a little earlier today. It just didn’t feel right, keeping it a secret now that you know.”

Aomine wonders if that means he intended to tell Kuroko first. He grunts in acknowledgement but says nothing.

“I guess he’s already told the team by now.” Kagami chuckles, and it’s a forced sound. “I guess I really put a damper on their season.”

He’s trying to joke, but the words don’t come out quite right, and Aomine raises his head to look at Kagami again. He looks sad, and frustrated, and Aomine feels the same frustration. He opens his mouth.

“You put a damper on mine, too.”

That… wasn’t what he wanted to say. Aomine wants to pull those words back, wants to replace them with something that’s not so selfish, something that might actually help Kagami _feel better_. But it’s too late, the words have been set free, and they hit Kagami with sniper-like precision.

His eyes show wounds, and Aomine doesn’t know how to fix them.

“Yeah, well… it’s not like I chose this.” He sounds defeated, and no, Kagami Taiga is _not_ supposed to sound like that.

_You broke him, idiot. Now fix it._

“Look, what I _meant_ to say,” he tries, “is that… I mean, I look forward to our games with Seirin because you’re there. But don’t worry about your team, they have some strong players… I mean, they’re probably going to lose without you,” a small voice in Aomine’s head starts screaming unintelligibly, “but it’s not-“

Kagami cuts him off with a chuckle. “You’re really shit at cheering people up, huh?”

And Aomine can’t help but gape at him, because after what he said, Kagami is actually _giving him an out_.

He leans back in the chair, realizing that during his fumbling he inched all the way to the very edge of the seat. If Kagami had let him flounder any longer, he would have fallen off. “Hmph. You should be grateful I’m trying at all.”

Silence descends on them, full of more tension than ever. Aomine is still reeling from his own words, and Kagami stares out the window, where Aomine can’t see his melancholy eyes.

When Aomine, can’t take it anymore, he gets up and walks to the edge of the bed.

“Listen.” Kagami looks back at him, but Aomine doesn’t meet his eyes. “I’m an idiot, okay?”

“You’re actually admitting it?” Kagami asks, trying to sound light-hearted, but there’s a tightness in his voice that gives him away.

Aomine gives a small sigh, and leans down. He puts his hand to Kagami’s chin and kisses him, apologizing in the only way he knows how.

Kagami lets Aomine kiss him, but doesn’t kiss back, and that’s how Aomine knows that his apology is not wholly accepted.

He moves back and sits down in the chair. Both of them are silent once again, but this time it’s broken by the door opening, Kagami’s father entering.

“Taiga, I have some good- oh, Aomine-kun.” He looks concerned, brow furrowing. “You’re here.”

“Yeah,” is all he has to say to that.

“It’s fine, Dad,” says Kagami. He forces a smile. “What’s so good?”

Kagami’s father stares at Aomine for a moment longer, then seems to relent, turning his attention back to his son. “As I was saying, I got a good deal on kitchen modifications. Everything should be ready for you by the time you’re ready to go back home.”

“Oh. Cool.” Kagami doesn’t sound too excited about it, Aomine notes.

“Kitchen modifications?” he asks, before they fall back into silence.

“Yeah. Lowering the countertops and stuff. So I can still cook.”

“Oh. That’s good.” Aomine grins a little in encouragement. “You like cooking, don’t you?”

“It’s just something I do.” It’s dismissive, and Aomine shifts uncomfortably in his chair.

Kagami’s father starts rambling on at some length about other modifications to the apartment. It’s a lot of changes, and Aomine feels overwhelmed just listening to the details.

_This is going to be Kagami’s life now._

Aomine doesn’t know how to feel about it. And from the look on Kagami’s face, he doesn’t know, either.

Eventually, Kagami’s father gets yet another phone call, and he walks back outside again, leaving the two boys in yet another round of oppressive silence. As much as Aomine doesn’t care for Kagami’s father, he wishes he would stay, just a bit longer.

“Um,” Aomine begins ineloquently, and Kagami turns his head to look at him. “Have you been keeping up with any basketball games while you’re in here? The playoffs are going to start in America pretty soon, right?”

Kagami shrugs. “I haven’t really felt like watching.”

Aomine is stunned. _Kagami_ , not watching basketball? “Then what the hell _have_ you been watching?”

Another shrug. “I’ve watched some cop shows. And a few sitcoms.” Aomine makes a face, and Kagami smiles a little. “They’re not that bad.”

Aomine just shakes his head in disappointment at Kagami’s poor taste. But without games to talk about, they find their conversation options limited.

Aomine starts to feel a bit stifled.

He’s trying to come up with a way to excuse himself from the room when a savior appears. “Kagami-kun?” calls Kuroko’s voice from the doorway, and Aomine stands up as though to greet him.

“Ah, Kuroko!” Kagami’s face lights up, perhaps as relieved as Aomine feels. “I thought you’d be at practice.”

“I left a little early.” He holds up his arm, displaying a bandage. “I tripped and skinned my elbow.”

“Are you kidding me?” Kagami shakes his head. “You’re so clumsy.” But he’s still smiling, amused now, and Aomine feels glad, at least, that Kagami looks happier.

“Uh, hey, Tetsu,” he greets, rubbing the back of his neck, and Kuroko nods at him.

“Hello, Aomine-kun. I thought you might be here.”

“I was just leaving, actually,” he says quickly, grabbing his backpack up off the floor. “I guess you and Kagami have a lot to talk about.”

Kuroko looks surprised. “Ah, yes, but… you don’t have to go, Aomine-kun.”

Aomine’s already pushing past him. “No, it’s fine. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Aomine-“

At Kagami’s voice, Aomine pauses, hand gripping the door handle. He waits, holding his breath, but finally all Kagami says is, “See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” he says, and then he’s out the door, walking out of the hospital as fast as his feet can carry him.

* * *

 

“Dai-chan!?”

Aomine can’t fault Momoi for sounding surprised as he walks into the basketball gym, idly stretching his arms. It’s the first time he’s come to practice since Kagami went into the hospital, and she probably didn’t expect him back quite so soon.

He grunts in acknowledgement of her, setting his bag down and digging his water bottle out. She sets down her clipboard, full of stats on other players, and hurries to Aomine’s side.

“I thought you’d be visiting Kagamin in the hospital again,” she says, quietly enough so the rest of the team can’t hear her. He wonders if they really have no idea where he’s been. Maybe they didn’t care to ask.

“I’ll go after practice.”

“Oh.” She smiles, clapping her hands together. “Well, if you have that kind of attitude, he must be getting better, right?”

“He’s not going to get better.” The words slip out on their own, and he grimaces.

“Wh-what!?” she gasps, and that _was_ loud, and the other players pause in their exercises to look over at the pair. “He’s not- th-then, Kagamin is going to…”

“Yeah. He’s never going to play basketball again.”

Momoi stares at him for several heartbeats, then she frowns, folding her arms. “Dai-chan! Don’t scare me like that! I thought Kagamin was dying!”

“No. But he can’t walk.” Aomine bends to put the water bottle back in his bag.

“Still, that must be terrible for Kagamin.” Momoi taps her chin, face scrunched up in sympathy. “Maybe you should go there, Dai-chan… I’m sure he-“

“I’ll go after practice,” Aomine repeats, standing up abruptly and walking out onto the court without another word. Momoi watches him go, poised like she wants to say more, before finally giving up and returning to her spot on the bench. Aomine can imagine her thumbing through until she finds her pages of stats on Seirin, and quietly marking out Kagami’s data.

The rest of practice goes mostly normally for Aomine. He does what he’s supposed to, though he doesn’t try too hard, and there’s a weird pang in his chest every time he remembers that Kagami is never going to be there again, matching his movements, trading blow for blow. It sucks the motivation out of him, and everyone can tell he’s just going through the motions. No one says anything, though, perhaps because they can sense that all is not well.

Practice ends all too quickly, and though he doesn’t like it, Aomine wishes he could beg for just five, ten, fifteen minutes more. But everyone is cleaning the gym, getting their things, and packing up to leave, and he can only loiter in the doorway for so long.

Finally, out of distractions, he makes his way to the hospital.

* * *

 

Kagami looks as surprised as Momoi did earlier, but he quickly puts on a smile. “Hey.” Aomine waits for him to ask what took so long, but he doesn’t.

Aomine provides an explanation anyway. “I went to practice.”

“It’s about time. How many days have you skipped?”

“It’s not like it matters anyway.” _Since you won’t even be there._

Though he left those words unsaid, Kagami looks like he heard them anyway.

“Hah… You’re back to that, huh?” He smiles, small, and looks down at his lap. His hands twist in the sheets.

“There aren’t any good opponents left.” He shrugs.

“You never know. There might be some good rookies this year!”

“I doubt it.” Aomine allows himself a smirk. “And even if there are, I have a move that-“

He stops, watching Kagami’s reaction. He’s gone from smiling to looking sullen, eyes far away, his hands gripping the sheets even tighter. His shoulders are shaking, just enough for Aomine to notice.

“…Kagami?”

“Aomine.” Kagami seems to give his head a shake and snap out of it, though he still looks incredibly sad. “Can we… not talk about that?”

“…About basketball?”

Kagami swallows hard. “Yeah.”

Aomine sits as though frozen in place. “But… you were fine with it, before-“

“I told you, I was pretending.” Kagami sighs, looking up at the ceiling. “Just… can we talk about something else for now? Please.”

Aomine casts his mind around for a topic, but comes up with nothing. Basketball is usually what he and Kagami talked about. They might talk about movies or funny comics or things like that sometimes, but eventually they always come back around to basketball.

Really, when Aomine thought about it… they didn’t seem to have much in common.

“Uh… have you seen any good movies lately?”

Kagami snorts. “No, genius, I’ve been in here.”

“I meant on TV or something!” Aomine scowls, but tries again. “Well… you said you were watching cop shows?”

“Yeah!” Kagami’s eyes light up. “Hey, did you see the one where they found two bodies chopped up in the freezer yesterday?”

“No. I don’t watch those dumb shows.”

Kagami scowls now. “Then why even bring it up, Ahomine?”

“Hey, I’m just trying to come up with something to say! You’re the one who doesn’t want to talk about basketball!”

“Is it really that hard? Talk about your life or somethin’!”

“Well, my life is mostly basketball and porn, so unless you want to talk about porn-“

“We’re in the hospital!”

“Then do you want to hear about my basketball or not?” Aomine leans forward in his seat, glaring at Kagami. Kagami glares back from the bed, though Aomine can’t help but notice he looks upset.

“I already told you. I just… can’t right now, Aomine.” He takes a deep breath, a shuddering one, and for a moment, Aomine is afraid Kagami is going to erupt in one of those coughing fits he had so many times when he first came to the hospital. But he doesn’t, only looks sadly at Aomine. “I can’t think about that. About what we used to do… about how we used to _be_ , when we were out on the court together. I can’t think right now… about what I lost.”

Aomine feels his chest tighten like a vice. Kagami doesn’t want reminders of what he lost… but then, isn’t Aomine himself the biggest reminder? Everything about them is rooted in their rivalry: the way they met, the way they got to know each other, the way their relationship, whatever it could be defined as, had started, the way the sex had started. Could they really separate themselves from all that, and still be _them_? Could Kagami ever separate Aomine from all that, enough to feel whole?

Aomine’s mind is whirling, and he realizes he’s been quiet for far too long now, Kagami watching him expectantly. He has to speak, has to say _something_ , but he doesn’t know what to say.

So he says that.

“I don’t know what to do.”

He looks down at his knees, feeling strangely defeated. He wishes he had more to say, more to offer, but he’s realizing with startling clarity that he doesn’t.

“Hey.”

He looks up at Kagami’s call, hoping that Kagami will toss him a rope like he has all those times before. But Kagami isn’t even looking at him, eyes on the window.

“If being here makes you uncomfortable, Aomine, then why don’t you just go home?”

And that’s it then, Aomine realizes. He’s been dismissed.

He stands up and reaches for his bag. He’s out the door before he even realizes he moved. He’s going down the hallway now, at first walking and then _running_ , trying to leave that room far, far behind him.

Kagami’s life is going to be different now, and in that new and different life, Aomine is of no use. He just demonstrated that clearly.

He never returns to the hospital.


	5. Private Room

The next several weeks blend together, with nothing really to distinguish one day from the next. Graduation happens somewhere in there – Aomine advances to second year. He spends break lazing around his room, avoiding his parents, and ignoring Momoi’s invitations to go do something. The new school year starts, bringing with it new kids on the basketball team whose names Aomine can barely remember and who insist on calling him “senpai.”

“I went to one of Kaijo’s practice games yesterday,” one of them says in the locker room one day. At first, Aomine has no interest (he’s sure Kise is just the same as always), when the first year follows it up with, “They were playing Seirin!”

Aomine pauses, hands gripping the back of his shirt. He’d been about to pull it over his head, but just hearing that name makes his blood run cold.

“Seirin!? Isn’t that the team that won the Winter Cup last year!?”

“Yeah! It was a good game – really close for awhile, but in the end Kaijo won by six points.”

“Oh! Kaijo must be really good this year.”

“I think they are. They have one of those Generation of Miracles guys on their team, and one of their first years is really impressive too – I played him in middle school and that guy wouldn’t let anyone get past him.”

“Sounds like Seirin was doing pretty good just to keep up.”

“No, they had really good players on their team, too! Though… I was a little disappointed. I was hoping I’d get to see that really amazing power forward play, but he wasn’t there!”

“What? Did he get sick, I wonder?”

“I don’t know. I sure hope he didn’t quit, though- ah, Aomine-senpai? You forgot your-”

Aomine doesn’t look back to see what he left behind. He’s still wearing his clothes from practice, clutching his bag and moving fast out the door.

He stops going to practice after that. It’s not like he really needs it, anyway.

* * *

 

The unintended consequence of skipping practice is that Aomine starts to feel restless.

It’s a strange feeling for him. He always skipped practices before, and was still able to nap any time he wanted to. But, he comes to realize, that was before Kagami.

The change had happened so gradually that Aomine hadn’t noticed it until now. With Kagami as his new goal to beat in basketball, he had started going to practice more, skipping his afterschool nap. Often, he would meet up with Kagami after practice, to play one-on-one and hang out, so he would miss his late afternoon nap, too. He usually napped while Kagami would cook dinner, but that still leaves a whole gulf of time between school letting out and time for his evening nap that he just _can’t_ seem to sleep during anymore.

So one day, he starts roaming. It’s preferable to sitting at home with his parents, having to hear more about how the lawsuit against the driver is coming along, or having to listen to his mother’s nagging. He walks all over the city, usually with a hood up and headphones on, ignoring anyone he passes by.

It’s one of those restless days that he finds himself in a familiar part of the city. His feet carry him to an old chain-link fence, around it and onto cracked pavement with peeling paint. An old, rundown basketball court.

There’s an old basketball someone’s left behind sitting against the fence, peeling and weathered. He can almost hear Kagami’s voice as he looks at it, saying, “Come on, Aomine. Let’s play one-on-one!”

He walks over to it and scoops it up, then idly dribbles it out to the middle of the court. It’s a bit flat, but he doesn’t mind. He breaks into a light gait and does a lay-up.

Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Kagami.

_”I’ll block you next time. Just watch.”_

_“Oh yeah?” He had grinned, dribbling the ball a few times._ The ball is flat now, so Aomine just holds it. _”If you block my next shot, I’ll kiss you.”_

_“Hah! You’re on!”_

Aomine runs the ball to the hoop. _Kagami was right next to him, the whole way._ He dodges back a few steps, changes course, shoots the ball.

_Kagami got his hand on it, knocked it away from the hoop._ Aomine’s shot misses, the ball bouncing off the rim and rolling away across the court.

_Kagami was on him instantly, pressing him back against the chain link fence, ferocious kisses claiming his lips. He pushed his tongue into Aomine’s mouth, and Aomine was swept up in his taste, and he couldn’t help it when a needy whine slipped out of his throat. Kagami smiled against his lips, lifting his wrists up and holding them against the chain link. Aomine groaned again, pressing a little too much into Kagami, pulling away from his lips to nip and suck at the nape of Kagami’s neck. Kagami had let go of his wrists with one hand, reaching instead to pull at the hem of Aomine’s shirt, moaning his name into his ear._

A sudden bark pulls Aomine out of the memory, and he reaches up to push back his hair. He’s sweating, and his heart is beating too fast, tearing ragged breaths out of his mouth. He pulls his shirt up and uses it to wipe sweat off his face. When he lowers it again, another bark catches his attention, and he looks down.

“Ah… hey.”

He can’t help but brighten when he sees the familiar puppy wearing a #2 jersey, and he instantly bends down to pick up Nigou, holding him up to eye level. Nigou wags his tail excitedly and barks again, then leans forward and gives Aomine’s face a quick lick, which makes him smile.

“Hey, Nigou. Do you wanna play some one-on-one?”

Nigou yips and wags his tail even more, and Aomine takes that as a yes. He puts the little dog back down, then goes to get the ball.

For several minutes, Aomine is able to put his worries aside and play with Nigou. He dribbles the ball up and down the court while Nigou chases it, trying to bat at it with his paw. He can’t stop smiling, for once, though he can’t help but think about how if Kagami were here, he would be cowering in the corner, afraid of the dog…

“Nigou!”

The sound of Kuroko’s voice stops Aomine. He can see his friend on the sidewalk through the chain link, for once not invisible to his attention.

“Oi, Tetsu!” he calls, walking toward the fence. “He’s over here.” Behind him, Nigou barks, wagging his tail and waiting for his owner.

Kuroko walks around the fence, enthusiastically greeted by his dog. He pats Nigou on the head, before looking over at Aomine.

“What are you doing out here, Tetsu?” Aomine asks, idly spinning the ball on his finger. He feels like he already knows what they were doing - the hospital Kagami is in isn’t too far away, after all.

“I was taking Nigou for a walk,” he says instead, straightening back up. “Why are you here, Aomine-kun?”

“…I was bored,” Aomine says. Before Kuroko can ask him anything else, he tosses the ball to him. “Hey, let’s practice your shooting.”

They practice until a bit after the streetlights come on, Aomine giving Kuroko direction as they go. He’s pleased to see that Kuroko’s shooting has improved – the more versatile he gets in his skills, the more useful he’ll be to his team. Nigou chases them around the court as they go, barking happily whenever Kuroko makes a shot.

They stop long before he would like to, though. Kuroko is tired already from practice, and he doesn’t have the stamina Aomine does. They go to sit on a bench on the sidelines, watching Nigou chase fireflies. It’s silent for a long time, until Aomine works up the courage to ask the question he’s had since Kuroko first arrived.

“…Did you go visit Kagami today?”

Kuroko glances at him. Aomine wonders if he’s surprised he even asked, but Kuroko doesn’t say so.

“I did. They wouldn’t let Nigou into the hospital, though.”

Aomine chuckles at that. “Really? But it’d be pretty hilarious to take a dog into Kagami’s hospital room. He wouldn’t have any escape then.”

“Mm. And Nigou wanted to see him, too.”

“I bet. His reaction to Nigou is always hilarious.”

Silence falls over them again, even less comfortable this time. Now that Kagami has been brought up, it’s all Aomine can think about – as if he weren’t having enough trouble not thinking about it as it was.

“…How is Kagami, anyway?”

“He’s been healing really well, is what the doctors said. They’ve started letting him wheel himself around the hospital, so he gets used to the chair.”

Aomine can’t help but flinch. Even more than he’s been trying not to think of Kagami, he’s been trying not to think of the wheelchair. Of the fact that things will never be the same for Kagami again – that the scene he couldn’t stop himself from remembering earlier was never going to happen again.

“Oh. …That’s good.”

Kuroko doesn’t respond to that. After a moment, he says, “By the way, Himuro-kun came to visit last weekend.”

Once again, Aomine flinches. He’s starting to feel like Kuroko is picking these topics on purpose. “He did, huh?”

“He was here all Saturday and Sunday. They set up a cot in the room for him so he could sleep there.”

“They let him do that? Sleep in his room?” _They never let_ me _do that!_

“Mmhmm. I think Kagami-kun was really glad to have him there.”

Aomine bristles. Kagami was really happy to have Himuro there, huh? Well, of course he would be; he wears that stupid ring Himuro gave him everywhere. He’d even have it on when they would make out. What’s up with that, anyway? First the ring, then Himuro getting to stay the night…

He takes a deep breath. What does it matter if Kagami wears Himuro’s ring, or if Himuro stays the night? It’s not like he and Kagami were ever dating. It’s not like he’s…

He’s _not_ jealous.

He slowly eases his hands open from where he’s been gripping the fabric of his shorts (he hadn’t noticed) and un-grits his teeth (he hadn’t noticed _that_ , either). Kuroko is looking at him, a bit concerned, but Aomine pointedly doesn’t meet his eyes.

“Aomine-kun… are you alright?”

He eases the tension in his shoulders. He takes another deep breath.

“Your timing on your release is off.”

Kuroko blinks. “What?”

“Your timing. You need to release a little later. It’ll give your shot more power.”

“…I see. Thank you for the advice, Aomine-kun.”

Kuroko stands up, grabbing his backpack from the ground beside the bench. Nigou trots over to the edge of the fence, then looks back at him, waiting.

“We should go. Have a good night, Aomine-kun.”

“Yeah. See you, Tetsu.”

Aomine sits on the bench until it’s too dark to really see anymore. Then he gets up and goes home.

That night, he can’t stop thinking about Kagami and Himuro. He doesn’t fall asleep until the early hours of the morning.

* * *

 

The days pass, growing hotter as early summer sets in. The heat drives Aomine back indoors from his roaming, but at least he can find it easier to sleep now. Like a cat, he naps in the sunny spot in his room, but is too often pulled awake from dreams of Kagami being with him.

He’s still not attending basketball practice, and he barely keeps track of their team’s schedule, so he very nearly misses the first day of the InterHigh preliminaries. Very nearly, only because Momoi shows up at his door, twenty minutes before the team is supposed to meet up.

“Daiki! Satsuki-chan is here to see you!” his mother calls from downstairs, and Aomine awakens with a snort, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. He’s lying with the sheets mostly flung off him, still in only a t-shirt and some boxers, but if Momoi is concerned about his state of undress, she doesn’t show it as she flings the door open.

“Dai-chan, what are you doing still in bed!? Get up and get dressed!”

Aomine sighs, letting his head fall back on his pillow and covering his eyes with his forearm. “It’s not polite to barge into people’s room like this, Satsuki.”

“We don’t have time for this, Dai-chan! Come on!”

“The team will be fine without me.”

Momoi sighs, and Aomine can hear her walking around his futon. “I didn’t want to have to do this, but you’ve forced my hand.”

He hears her rifling through his things, and with a sinking feeling in his gut, he lifts his arm off his face. “Satsuki…”

She pulls out his stack of Mai-chan magazines, very deliberately pulling out one of the special editions (and one of his favorites, with a busty picture of Mai-chan in a low-cut yukata on the front). Then, she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a lighter.

He sits up quickly. “ _You wouldn’t._ ”

_Click_. The lighter produces flame, and, very slowly, Momoi lowers the magazine towards it.

Aomine stands up. “Alright, alright. I’m getting dressed.”

“Thank you, Dai-chan!” she sings, walking out of his room to give him privacy (and, he notices, taking the magazine and lighter with her, just in case).

In a few minutes, Aomine is relatively presentable. Momoi says goodbye to his mother before the two of them set off to meet the rest of the team.

Along the way, Momoi talks animatedly about the teams they’ll be facing. Aomine tunes her out, not particularly interested - until they start playing the other teams with members of the Generation of Miracles, he doubts any of them will present much of a challenge.

Really, there’s only one team he’s curious about, and when Momoi finally slows down, he ventures to ask, “What about Seirin?”

“We’ll only play them if they make it through the preliminaries.”

Aomine grunts in response and doesn’t say anything else. He hopes that’s the end of it, but after a minute of walking, Momoi speaks up.

“Did something happen between you and Kagamin?”

“Huh?”

“You stopped visiting him, and you’ve been even more moody than usual.”

Aomine huffs in what might be described as a moody way. “We just got tired of being around each other, that’s all.”

Momoi isn’t convinced. “Is that really all?”

_”If being here makes you uncomfortable, Aomine, then why don’t you just go home?”_

“He said he doesn’t want to see me,” says Aomine with a shrug.

“He did!? That doesn’t sound like Kagamin.”

“Yeah. He said that he doesn’t want to talk about basketball, and if that makes me uncomfortable, I should get out.”

Momoi puts a hand to her chin thoughtfully. “That doesn’t sound like he was asking you to leave, though.”

Aomine hesitates. Had Kagami really meant for him to leave? He’d sounded so sure, and so tired… How could he have meant anything else?

“If you’d been there, then you’d know that’s what he meant,” says Aomine, and he hopes that he’s as right as he felt at the time. “After all, when it comes to basketball, I’m his biggest reminder.”

“Maybe…” Momoi doesn’t sound convinced. “But is basketball really all you had with Kagamin?”

_What does that mean?_ Basketball was all they did together. They met up for games, they met up for one-on-one, they met up to watch basketball in Kagami’s apartment. Basketball was supposed to be where their future was: playing each other through college, playing each other in the pro leagues. It had been central to everything _they_ were, until everything changed.

_If that makes you uncomfortable, Aomine…_

“There wasn’t a lot else.”

Momoi side-eyes him, then chuckles, lowering her hand. “Let me put it this way, Dai-chan. Is basketball _all_ you liked about Kagamin?”

Aomine lets that question settle over him. What does he like about Kagami? Well, he likes playing basketball with him. What else is there?

There’s a big, warm smile when Kagami is happy, sometimes so bright that Aomine has to look away.

There’s a bright red blush and an embarrassed pout whenever Kagami says something dramatic.

There’s stupid fights and impromptu contests that end in laughter and friendly ribbing, with Kagami’s eyes always challenging him on to the next thing.

There’s a home, opened to him too easily, with the smells of warm food and the promise of a warm place to sleep, where Kagami accepted him instantly, made him feel like he belonged there all along.

He never answers Momoi’s question, but she folds her arms and chuckles, clearly satisfied.


	6. Morphine Drip

The first round of preliminary games go as expected, with Touou winning by large margins almost every time. Though Aomine always scores a large amount of points, everyone notices that his heart isn’t in it – he’s moving on autopilot. It reminds Momoi too much of their last year at Teiko Middle School, except there’s a despondence in Aomine that runs deeper than just a disappointment in basketball.

It’s not until they move on to the next round, the league games, that Touou faces Seirin, in the second game. Aomine spends the first one trying to pretend like it isn’t coming, but eventually he has to walk onto the court and see the familiar jerseys, the familiar faces - and he can’t help but think of the noticeably absent face.

Aomine is suddenly struck by the bone-deep realization that he does _not_ want to play this game. He’s been apathetic about games in the past, but this is different; there is a dread that knots his stomach and an anxiety that makes his hands shake. He does not want to play against Seirin, not while _he_ won’t be on the court.

“Coach.”

The coach looks up from where he was looking over some papers given him by Momoi. “What is it, Aomine?”

“I’m sitting this game out.” His tone is authoritative, but he fights to keep a plea out of his voice.

“You’re definitely not. I need you out there against Seirin.”

“You don’t need me. The rest of the team can handle it.”

“No. Even if they don’t have that strong power forward from last year, they’ve had a strong showing this year. I believe we can crush them, but you need to be out there for us to do it.”

Aomine tries to hide his flinch at the reminder. “I’ll just leave, then-“

“What the hell, Aomine!?” snaps a voice behind him, and Aomine turns into the furious face of Wakamatsu, seething at him. “This isn’t the time for you to start being lazy! Get your ass out there!”

“I’m not being lazy,” Aomine snaps back, with too much force, an edge to his normally bored tone, and Wakamatsu’s certainty in his anger drops.

“You’ve been playing weird this whole time. Is something up with you?” His brow furrows, and Aomine can see the same perceptiveness in his eyes that allows him to analyze his opponents on the court.

Aomine has to get out of here.

“Nothing’s wrong. I’m going.”

He walks a little too quickly onto the court for the starting line-up, and he can feel his teammates’ eyes boring into his back: Wakamatsu, Sakurai, and Momoi. He stands still and tries to will his hands to stop shaking as the rest of the players take their places.

“Aomine-kun,” says Kuroko from where he stands on Seirin’s side, but Aomine ignores him, instead staring straight ahead somewhere past the Seirin players.

The referee blows his whistle and the ball is tossed in the air. Wakamatsu gets it, and the game is on.

The first drive isn’t anything noteworthy, but Touou gets a point without Aomine even touching the ball. He runs down to the other end and blocks a shot from Seirin, then begins to run the ball back the other way -

\- a flash of red, a hand reaching out -

Aomine jerks, pausing to look frantically for the defender he knows he saw. He hears, “Aomine!” from one of his teammates, just in time to move before Izuki steals the ball. He moves quickly into position and shoots, scoring another two points for Touou.

“What were you doing, Aomine!?” yells Wakamatsu, and he scowls, looking over his shoulder.

“Shut up! I got the shot.”

The next few plays, Aomine doesn’t get the ball, and nothing strange happens. He grabs the ball on a rebound from Seirin and goes to make another drive, breaking through his defenders effortlessly and going for a lay-up –

\- a flash of red again, and a jump, a hand reaching to block the shot, and Aomine makes a last second correction to accommodate –

he misses the shot.

Aomine stops and watches as the ball bounces off the rim and falls to the court. Everyone seems just as surprised as he is, the game coming to a moment’s standstill before the ball bumps into the foot of a Seirin player (Koganei, Aomine thinks, but isn’t sure) who scoops it up and runs off with it.

By the time Aomine comes back to his senses, Seirin has scored three points, and Touou has the ball again.

“Pay attention, Aomine!” orders Wakamatsu as he passes the ball to him, and Aomine starts down the court, hoping to score an easy two points –

\- another flash of red, a hand reaching for the ball, Aomine moves to dodge him, to keep him from stealing –

Aomine moves the ball straight into the hand of Hyuga, who had come up along his other side to try and steal. He seems almost confused as he takes the ball, but he does, and they’ve scored again before Aomine can understand what’s happened.

He glances over at the bench. His teammates are staring at him with astonishment on their faces, and his coach looks furious. He can ignore them, but can’t ignore the worried look when he meets Momoi’s eyes.

He wouldn’t know what to tell her, because he doesn’t know what’s happening to himself.

The first quarter comes to an end. He joins everyone on the sideline for just a moment, doesn’t listen as his coach barks orders until he hears his name.

“Aomine, you need to focus. Stop daydreaming and pay attention!”

He shrugs, looking off at the gym wall so he doesn’t have to meet anyone’s eyes. “Whatever.”

Wakamatsu growls beside him but doesn’t say anything. They all head back onto the court for the second quarter.

It begins the same as the first quarter, but Aomine can tell he’s getting worse. That flash of red is still there every time he makes a move, always reaching to block him, to steal from him, to make a shot, only it’s becoming more pronounced now.

Soon, Aomine can see him clearly.

He passes the ball to Sakurai to avoid Kagami’s steal. Sakurai is not open, and the ball is intercepted by Kuroko, who passes off to Izuki.

He jumps to block Kagami’s dunk. Hyuga’s three-pointer makes it in regardless.

He moves to defend against Kagami, leaving not enough people to defend against Izuki, and he and Hyuga take more points.

Aomine feels a laser focus almost like he’s in the zone, but it’s off-kilter, lacking context. The thing he is so focused on is not there – the game he is playing does not exist.

It’s almost the end of the second quarter, and Aomine is moving back and forth with his team. While he hasn’t touched the ball in over a minute, he moves like he has it, like he’s playing against a defender, but no one is there. The other players are confused by his erratic behavior; a murmur has risen up from the crowd.

Aomine slams into Sakurai, almost sending him sprawling, and the referee blows his whistle to signal a player change for Touou. He’s being benched.

Aomine doesn’t so much as glance at his replacement as he walks past. He sinks down on the bench, grabbing the water bottle Momoi offers him without looking up.

“What’s going on with you, Aomine?” demands his coach, but Aomine doesn’t answer. Frustrated, his coach sighs, says, “Get your head together in time for the next game,” and stops paying attention to him. He can feel Momoi staring at him, the rest of his teammates staring at him – when he glances up, Kuroko is staring at him from Seirin’s bench.

He grabs his towel out of his bag and pulls it over his head, creating blinders between him and the rest of the stadium. He stays that way for the rest of the half, through halftime, and for the rest of the game after.

Touou wins, but only barely. The victory means nothing to Aomine.

* * *

 

As soon as the game ends, Aomine grabs his bag and starts walking for the exit.

Momoi and Wakamatsu both call after him, but he doesn’t stop. Maybe it’s the aura he’s giving off, but neither of them follow him, and he makes it out of the gym before anyone can stop him.

He doesn’t want to be anywhere near this place anymore, and he doesn’t want to play any more games. He wants to get home, crawl into his futon, and sleep until this whole mess is so far behind him he forgets about it.

Somehow he knows he won’t forget, and the thought makes him laugh bitterly.

“Aomine-kun!”

He can hear footsteps running after him now, but he doesn’t stop or slow his pace. He tries to pretend that he didn’t hear Kuroko’s shout at all, though he knows it’s not convincing. They’re some of the only ones out in the lobby, as games are still going on.

“Aomine-kun!” Kuroko repeats, more insistently. He’s right behind Aomine now, and finally, Aomine stops. Maybe he can just get it over with.

“What is it, Tetsu?”

He assumes he knows what Kuroko is going to say, and he prepares his answers (“I’m fine.” “Nothing’s wrong.” “Don’t worry about it.”), but Kuroko throws him for a loop.

“He’s back at home.”

Aomine feels his hands begin to shake again. He takes a deep breath through his nose before asking, “Who?” As though he doesn’t know.

“Kagami-kun,” answers Kuroko anyway. “He was discharged from the hospital a few days ago.”

A million questions about Kagami’s condition bubble in Aomine’s throat, and he swallows them all down. “Why are you telling me this?”

“I thought you would want to know how he’s doing.”

“I don’t.”

The lie tastes bitter in Aomine’s mouth. He starts walking toward the door again, a little more quickly than before. Kuroko hurries to keep up.

“He wants to know how _you’re_ doing. He asks about you a lot.”

This gives Aomine pause, his hand on the door. He can’t help but look over his shoulder at Kuroko, to gauge his sincerity. “He does?”

“Yes.” Kuroko nods. “He misses you.”

“Did he actually say he missed me?”

Kuroko deadpans. “Yes.”

Aomine scowls, and pushes through the door. “You’re a shit liar, Tetsu.”

It’s only a second before Kuroko comes out the door after him. “Wait, Aomine-kun! He didn’t say it, but I know he does.”

“Yeah right.”

“It’s the way he talks about you! It’s true, Aomine-kun. If you just go over there and talk to him-”

“ _I’m_ not going over there. _He_ told _me_ to leave!”

Kuroko’s quiet when he speaks again. “That doesn’t sound like Kagami-kun.”

“What’s with _that_!?” snaps Aomine suddenly, stopping to whirl on Kuroko, who almost crashes into him. “You and Satsuki both. I do what Kagami says, and you guys are trying to make me out to be the bad guy!”

“No one’s trying to do that, Aomine-kun,” says Kuroko steadily, and Aomine barks a laugh.

“Then what? What are you trying to accomplish by guilt-tripping me?”

“I’m not trying to guilt you,” Kuroko asserts, meeting Aomine’s angry glare without flinching. “I’m just saying that for Kagami-kun’s sake, and for _your_ sake… you two need to talk. Or things like what happened today will keep happening.”

Aomine flinches and turns his back on Kuroko once more, starting to walk away. As much as that hurt, he can’t deny that Kuroko is probably right.

But going to talk to Kagami… can he really do that?

_He misses you._

He stops.

“Tetsu.”

“Yes?”

“I’ll think about it.”

* * *

 

He thinks about it for a full week.

In that time, he goes wandering after class. Before, he was trying to repress it, but now he feels it: memories of Kagami everywhere around him. Streets they walked down together, talking and laughing. Courts where they played games of street ball, always pushing each other to their limit. Stores where they stopped for food, sometimes goading each other into eating contests but often just enjoying the company. No matter where he goes, he can’t escape the specter of Kagami that he saw during the game. Not even his own bedroom is safe from it anymore.

He can’t keep doing this, he knows. It’s just like Kuroko said: he has to talk to Kagami, for his own sake. At the very least, maybe they can officially end… whatever it is they had. And then it will be done, and he can move on.

Thinking about it that way frightens him, but he takes a deep breath on a Sunday morning and climbs the steps to Kagami’s apartment.

It takes him almost a full five minutes to knock on the door. He turns around to leave a few times, and has to lean against the rail and take a few more breaths. Why is this so hard? It’s just Kagami!

He gets an odd look from a neighbor carrying a bag of groceries into her apartment, and that’s what finally drives him to knock on the door. He’s not sure if Kagami will let him in, but he’s prepared to fight through the door if he has to.

But it’s not Kagami who answers the door.

It’s his father.


	7. Re-break and Realign

“Ah, Aomine-kun… I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

Kagami’s father looks genuinely surprised, and also a little agitated. Probably being protective of Kagami. Aomine can’t really blame him, he supposes – after coming to see his son almost every day, he suddenly stopped, right when Kagami needed him the most. Why would anyone want him to come back after that?

Aomine has to push away that line of thinking before he runs away again. Instead, he fixes a dry, unconcerned look on his face. “Is Taiga here?”

“Yes…” Kagami’s father glances over his shoulder with uncertainty. “He’s eating breakfast.”

“Can I come in?”

“Just a moment.”

He closes the door. Aomine can hear him talking to Kagami inside, and almost laughs when he hears Kagami loudly ask, “ _Who_!?” But it’s a sick, tense laugh – it’s clear Kagami never expected him to come back. And really, Aomine never expected to, either.

After a moment, the voices quiet, and he hears the latch being undone. Then the door is opened again, but this time, it’s by Kagami himself.

This is the first time Aomine’s actually seen him in his wheelchair. He’d thought it would be a much more shocking moment, that Kagami would look totally different now, somehow alien with the chair under him. But Kagami looks just like he always did, except a little thinner, maybe, from lack of exercise. All Aomine can think is how _short_ he seems now.

The wheelchair itself is a bright fire truck red, and that almost makes him smile.

“Hey, Aomine,” says Kagami, and he sounds confused, staring up at Aomine like he’s uncertain Aomine is actually there. Aomine stares back at him and realizes he has nothing to say. He didn’t plan this far ahead, since he was so busy focusing on how to get there and get Kagami to the door in the first place.

So he says what feels most natural.

“What’s for breakfast? Smells good.”

At first, Kagami is so still that Aomine thinks he might have blown his one chance. But then his face twists in a way it sometimes does, where Aomine isn’t sure if he’s about to laugh or start yelling. Instead of doing either, he backs his chair out of the doorway, and motions for Aomine to come in.

“Rice, fish, hash browns. You can have some if you want.”

Aomine follows him in, shutting the door behind them. He notices some differences pretty quickly – the low table that used to be in the living room is gone in favor of a recliner and a large lounge chair, the kitchen cabinets have been noticeably lowered to a wheelchair accessible height, and there’s a new wheelchair accessible table with three other chairs positioned at it, which the food is laid out on. Just looking at it has Aomine’s mouth watering, and he can’t help but grab a whole plateful as he sits down in one of the chairs. Kagami’s father is nowhere to be seen, and Aomine assumes he went back to his room.

He’s not sure if it’s nerves or if he’s really just this hungry (he hasn’t been eating properly for awhile, after all), but he finds himself digging into the food. It dances on his taste buds, and takes him back to the time before all this happened, when Kagami used to make him food like this all the time. 

“Shit. You made this, right? I almost forgot how good your cooking was.”

“Yeah.” It’s a curt answer, and Aomine finally tears his eyes away from his breakfast to look at Kagami. He’s not eating, just watching. “Why are you here, Aomine?”

And just like that, Aomine’s appetite is gone again. He sets down his chopsticks, avoiding Kagami’s eyes. “Kuroko told me you were back, so I came to see how you’re doing.”

Kagami quirks an eyebrow. “Is that the only reason you came?”

“Yeah.”

Kagami’s brow is still quirked, but Aomine doesn’t say anything further, staring at his now abandoned hash browns. Finally, Kagami sighs, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand.

“Look… Kuroko told me they pulled you out of the game with Seirin. Said you weren’t playing right.”

Aomine can’t help but let a sour look cross his face. “He told you about that, huh?”

“Yeah. So what’s going on, Aomine? Really?”

Aomine wracks his brain desperately for an excuse, but can’t find one. Nothing sounds convincing even to him, and all of it would take him further from the reason he came here today. For once, he might as well just tell the truth.

He looks up, into Kagami’s face if not quite his eyes. “I missed seeing your ugly mug out there, that’s all.”

For too long, Kagami is silent, and then his expression grows angry, and Aomine thinks that if he could, Kagami would be rising out of his seat now.

His voice is dangerously quiet when he speaks. “What?”

Aomine takes a deep breath and starts to repeat, slowly, “I missed seeing your-“

“ _You_ missed _me_!?”

Kagami’s yelling now, and he looks livid, and he looks disbelieving, and, worst of all, he looks _hurt_ , but all Aomine can do is sit there and take it. “ _You_ run out, I don’t see you for _months_ , and then you think… you think that you can just _show up_ back here and say that _you_ missed _me_!?”

There’s footsteps in the hall, and suddenly Kagami’s father is there, dress shirt not tucked and tie hanging loose around his neck, looking just as agitated as he had when he opened the door for Aomine before. “Is everything alright in here, boys?” he asks, watching Aomine like _he’s_ the offender here, and Aomine doesn’t have it in him to argue. He can only look at Kagami, and hope he calms down long enough for Aomine to at least explain his side of things.

After a moment of seething, Kagami suddenly deflates, hunching away from the table. “Everything’s _fine_ , Dad,” he says, though he still sounds tense. “We’re just… talking.”

“It didn't sound like talk,” his father insists, still unsure, but at Kagami’s urging he leaves the room again. Once he’s gone, the temperature in the room seems to drop drastically, a chill settling around the two.

“…I only left because I thought you wanted me to,” Aomine finally ventures. His voice is quiet, low, but not bored like he often sounds. He wants to stay calm. He desperately needs Kagami to hear him out.

Kagami’s jaw drops. “Because I… When did I say _that_!?”

“You told me,” Aomine takes a deep breath, hand clenching around the knees of his shorts, “that you… didn’t want to be reminded of basketball.” He swallows. “Of what we had.”

“Yeah.” Kagami blinks, still clearly confused. “So?”

Now it’s Aomine’s turn to be bewildered. How can Kagami sound so nonchalant about that? Basketball was _them_ , was at the core of all they had together and all they were to each other!

“ _So_ , aren’t _I_ the biggest reminder?”

“…What?”

“Everything about us revolves around basketball, right?” Now Aomine is the one getting mad, but instead of his voice rising, it grows low, cold, like ice aiming to pierce Kagami’s flesh. “So how can you still want me around if you don’t want to be reminded? I thought-“

“Boys.”

They both jump a little in surprise; neither of them had heard Kagami’s father come back in the room. He’s wearing his clothes properly now, holding his phone and a briefcase.

“I need to go into the office for a few hours. I should be back this afternoon. Taiga, I’ll call your nurse-“

Kagami blushes a little, looking up at his father with a shake of his head. “I don’t need a nurse for a few hours, Dad. I can take care of myself.”

“I don’t know… I don’t like leaving you alone right now. You’re still getting used to the chair, after all.”

“Dad, seriously, I’ll probably just watch TV until you come back.”

“But what if something happens and you can’t reach a phone? I’m just not sure I want you in the house by yourself.”

“Dad-“

“I’ll stay with him.”

Both father and son look at him in shock, clearly stunned that Aomine would offer that. The atmosphere in the apartment has been uncomfortable since he arrived, to say the least. When they finally regain composure, the elder Kagami looks unsure.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea…”

“No, it’s… it’s alright, Dad. He can stay.”

Kagami says it resolutely, looking right at Aomine now. Aomine is grateful he agreed to that – it will be much easier to finally talk, if they can be alone for a while.

Kagami’s father quibbles about the decision for a minute longer before reminding Kagami of the numbers he can reach him at and admonishing him to take his medication. Then he’s gone, leaving the two boys with privacy, finally.

“…What were you going to say before?”

Aomine shrugs, going back to staring at his now cold food. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

“You said you were my biggest reminder. Do you really think that?”

“I said forget about it.”

Kagami sighs. “You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to, Aomine. I’ll be fine alone.”

And with that, Aomine snaps.

“There you go! Doing that shit again, that exact same thing!” he bellows, standing up from the table. It feels intimidating to him suddenly, how much he towers over Kagami now, but he’s too angry to back down.

“What!? What did _I_ do!?” Kagami yells back, straightening up in his chair once again. Though Aomine’s face is now above his, he still manages to feel on eye level with Aomine, never breaking eye contact.

“’You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to, Aomine,’” Aomine repeats in a mocking voice. “ _That_ shit! How am I supposed to know what you want when you say shit like that!?”

“I’m telling you to do what _you_ want!”

Aomine rounds the table in two steps, leaning down so his face is closer to Kagami’s. “I already know what _I_ want! What do _you_ want!?”

“I want you stay!” Kagami shouts, but his voice cracks on the last word. He snarls, perhaps at himself, and adds an, “Asshole!”

“Then why didn’t you just say that!? Idiot!”

“Because I didn’t want to you to feel like you had to stay just because I asked! Why did _you_ leave!?”

“Because I thought I was hurting you! Because I reminded you of basketball!”

“That’s stupid!”

“How is it stupid!?”

“Because I like you for more than basketball!”

Aomine freezes like he’s been turned to stone. He’s dragged back to that moment with Momoi, when she asked him if he only liked Kagami for basketball. He knows now that the answer to that question is no, but he’d never thought… he never _let himself_ think that Kagami might feel the same.

And now here they are; Kagami has just admitted it’s true, with his flustered, angry face only inches from Aomine’s own.

Aomine crashes his lips down on Kagami’s, pushing forcefully into a desperate kiss. Kagami kisses him back with hunger, a hand landing on Aomine’s back to crush them closer together. With nowhere to go, Aomine straddles Kagami’s lap in his chair, tilting his head and kissing Kagami again with renewed vigor, nipping and sucking at his lips until Kagami finally relents and parts them, and as Aomine slides his tongue into Kagami’s mouth he hopes he never has to come up for air again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy AoKaga Day!


	8. Patient Education

Eventually they have to break apart. Kagami goes first, slumping into the back of his chair. He’s a little winded, and Aomine remembers something about Kagami having a reduced lung capacity being mentioned.

“Whoa. Um. Okay.” He’s smiling just a bit, looking away from Aomine and rubbing a hand on the back of his neck. Sheepish. Aomine hates that he finds it cute. “I wasn’t really… expecting that.”

Aomine grins back, leaning in so he’s as in Kagami’s space as possible. “But you liked it.”

Kagami freezes, his eyes darting to look at Aomine before looking away again. He did, but doesn’t want to admit it, and Aomine’s grin widens. Just to drive the point home, he wiggles against Kagami’s legs and groin, the way he has before. It’s almost always enough.

But Kagami doesn’t even seem to notice, and just like that, Aomine is knocked off his feet again. Kagami probably can’t feel that – he can’t feel anything from the waist down, after all. For the first time, Aomine finds himself wondering if Kagami can even have sex anymore.

Almost as soon as he thinks it, he regrets it. That’s not what he came here for (as nice of a way to make up as it is). Kagami got hit by a car, he’s been dealing with his whole life changing, and Aomine is wondering if his flag can still get up the pole.

He slips off Kagami’s lap, standing up, and Kagami finally looks back at him, looking a little surprised. Aomine doesn’t meet his eyes, and shoves his hands in his pockets.

“Aomine…?”

He gives the smallest shake of his head before speaking. “I guess I’m supposed to be watching you or something, so… what do you usually do now?”

“Uh, well… I should clean the dishes…” He stretches one of his arms out with a grunt. “And then I was gonna watch some TV.”

Aomine quirks one eyebrow. “ _You_ , watching TV this early?”

“Yeah…” Kagami looks away again, frowning at the wall. “I’m still not back to my full strength… and my PT is a real hardass, so it wears me out.” He looks frustrated, though, and Aomine knows it’s because this just isn’t who Kagami is. He’s not someone who lazes around – he wants to get out, wants to _do_. Not having the physical stamina to do what he wants must be tough on him.

It’s just another thing he’s missed while he’s been gone.

Aomine shrugs. “Alright, we’ll watch TV because you’re too much of a pussy for your therapist.” Kagami squawks and shouts some insults at him, but Aomine ignores him, walking over to the recliner and flopping down in it like he’s at home.

“Those dishes aren’t going to wash themselves.”

Kagami continues to complain about him as he clears he table, but Aomine just listens with a smirk. _This_ is back to a comfortable familiarity – it’d almost be totally normal, if Aomine could stop himself from glancing around at Kagami occasionally to make sure he’s making it alright.

He is, finishing the dishes with no trouble. He wheels his chair around so that it’s between the recliner and the lounge chair, then flips some handle that Aomine assumes is a break. He leans forward with interest; he’s never seen someone get themselves out of a wheelchair before.

Kagami puts one hand on the seat of the lounge chair, then pulls himself over to the very edge of the wheelchair seat. Then he puts his other hand in the seat of the wheelchair and pushes himself up. He rests for just a second on the arm of his wheelchair before sliding onto the lounge chair. Then he scoots back, pulling his legs up one at a time, until he’s laid out across the chair with his back propped up. The whole process takes him about a minute. A minute just to sit in a chair.

“Can you grab me the remote?”

Normally Aomine would never get up from his comfy seat just to do that, but with the image of Kagami’s effort to get himself from one chair to another still fresh in his mind, he wordlessly gets up and grabs it from the TV stand, handing it to Kagami.

“Thanks.”

“Yeah.”

He sits back down and watches as Kagami flips through channels. Aomine expects him to go to sports, but instead he stops on a cooking show.

“We’re seriously watching this?” Aomine drawls, scowling at the screen. Kagami huffs.

“I’m the only one cooking for me and my dad, okay? It’s just good to have other recipes.”

Aomine can’t argue with Kagami being able to cook more things. He settles in and tries to keep an open mind.

He gets utterly bored after only a minute. Fancy cooking doesn’t make any sense to him; the hosts might as well be speaking a foreign language. The bland music and the drone of their voices make Aomine’s eyelids feel heavy, and it isn’t long before he catches himself trying to doze off.

It’s no fun napping in a chair all by himself, though.

Aomine glances over at Kagami. He seems engrossed in the show, occasionally typing things into his phone (recipes, Aomine assumes). He’s not paying any attention to Aomine, and that just won’t do.

Quietly, Aomine gets up from the recliner and moves over to the wheelchair. It’s less uncomfortable to sit in than he thought it would be (he wonders how much of that is due to the indentions from Kagami’s butt sitting on it day in and day out), but it’s still not his end goal.

Kagami still hasn’t looked at him, so he gets up quietly once more and slides onto the lounge chair, right into Kagami’s lap.

“Ah- Aomine!?”

“What?”

“What are you doing!?”

“Looking for a good napping spot.” He wiggles to make himself more comfortable. “Stop moving around.”

Kagami opens his mouth like he’s going to protest, but he doesn’t do anything as Aomine settles down and leans back against his chest. After about a half minute of doing nothing, he wraps an arm around Aomine’s waist, and Aomine can’t help but grin.

“Is that better?” Kagami’s trying to sound unamused, but his voice gives him away.

“It’ll do.”

Kagami huffs a breath of air right by Aomine’s ear, and Aomine smiles as he lets himself drift off.

* * *

 

He’s not sure how much time has passed before Kagami wakes him up abruptly, shaking his arm.

“Aomine,” he says, voice rough and a little strained. “Come on, you have to get off me. Now.”

“Mm… what…?” mumbles Aomine, coming blearily out of his nap. It takes him a moment to remember – coming to Kagami’s house, making up, making out, getting in Kagami’s lap. He was more deeply asleep than he thought he could be.

“Get _off_ ,” Kagami repeats, his voice panicked, and suddenly Aomine is scrambling to get off Kagami and out of his way.

“What!? What’s wrong!?” Aomine asks, looking around frantically like someone is about to bust through the window and attack. But Kagami doesn’t answer, instead dragging himself into his chair. He more falls into it than lowers himself, huffing out a, “Damn it,” as he rights himself.

Aomine’s eyes widen when he notices a growing dark stain on the lap of Kagami’s sweatpants. _Oh god, is he bleeding!?_ he wonders. Did he injure something by sitting in Kagami’s lap? Or is this some kind of medical emergency? Should he be calling an ambulance!?

Kagami races past him and down the hall, shaking Aomine out of his daze. He gives chase. He’s about to ask what’s wrong again, when Kagami turns into the bathroom and-

Oh.

_Oh._

Suddenly, Aomine feels pretty stupid.

He stands awkwardly in the doorway for a moment (Kagami had been in too much of a rush to close it), watching as Kagami uses bars that have been installed around the toilet to lift himself from the chair, then quickly moves away to give Kagami some privacy. He returns to the living room, lowering himself into the recliner once more.

He realizes that his heart is still racing like he ran a marathon, and he scowls, leaning back. Stupid Kagami, worrying him like that. All because he had to piss!

A little guilt creeps into his mind, but Aomine shoves it back. So what if he was sitting on Kagami? It’s not like he was a sadist who would hold him there until he wet his pants. Why didn’t he just say something if he had to go? Aomine would have given Kagami a hard time for waking him, sure, but he would have let him get up.

Kagami takes awhile, long enough that Aomine has almost decided to get up and check on him. Just before he does, though, Kagami calls for him.

“Aomine? Can you… do something for me?”

Aomine hurries back to the bathroom, hanging onto the doorway as he looks in at Kagami. He’s pulled off his pants and underwear (they’re laying in a heap on the floor). He’s not looking up, face cradled in his hands.

He’s clearly embarrassed. Aomine feels guilt surge again. Wasn’t he supposed to be helping Kagami out?

“What’s up?” he asks, trying to sound like they’re not in this awkward situation and succeeding. That’s one benefit to having a permanently deadpan voice.

“Can you grab another pair of sweats and some boxers? Second drawer down.”

“Yeah.”

He walks to Kagami’s room, digs in his chest of drawers for the clothing, then returns. He hands it to Kagami, who doesn’t look up as he mutters his thanks, then closes the door on his way out.

He waits quietly while he hears the water running in the bathroom, then Kagami wheeling himself down the hall to put the dirty clothes in the washing machine. Then, finally, Kagami returns, still looking a bit red, but not as mortified as he did a moment ago.

Neither of them say anything until Kagami has returned to the lounge chair, and then Aomine finally speaks up.

“If you’d said something, I would have helped you.”

Kagami sighs, leaning his head back in the lounge chair. “I didn’t _know_ , okay?” His voice holds a note of defensiveness.

“You didn’t _know_?” repeats Aomine, bemused. How can he _not_ know?

“Yeah. My spine was injured about here.” Kagami waves a bit vaguely at his abs. “So everything under that doesn’t work right anymore.”

“…Oh.” Well, now Aomine feels like an asshole once again. Of course it would be something related to his injury.

“Sometimes it’s okay and sometimes it’s too late before I know. So usually I’m careful about going every now and then, but…” He shrugs. “You showing up sorta threw off my whole schedule.”

Aomine looks down at his hands. “Sorry.”

“What are you apologizing for?” asks Kagami, and when Aomine looks up, he’s looking over, incredulous. “I’m the one who fucked up.”

“It’s just…” Aomine rubs the back of his neck. “I was supposed to be helping you, right?”

“S’okay. It’s not like you’re a nurse. You don’t know what’s going on.”

_Yeah, and whose fault is that?_ If Aomine hadn’t run away, if he’d stayed with Kagami, been with him through all this, then he _would_ know. He’d know, and be able to help him, instead of being useless.

He doesn’t want to be useless to Kagami anymore.

“I guess I’ll just have to learn,” he drawls.

Kagami’s expression is hard to read: a little unsure, a little surprised, and maybe, just maybe, a little happy.

Silence falls over them for a moment, but it’s not entirely comfortable. Aomine wonders what else about Kagami is different now, and his question from earlier resurfaces. It might not be appropriate to ask, but what better segue than this?

Aomine sits up a little more in his chair. “So can you still…” He holds his hand up in the air, lifting one finger slowly up.

Kagami splutters. “Are you… are you seriously asking me about my dick right now!?”

Aomine shrugs. “It’s a valid question.”

“Ahomine,” huffs Kagami, but he’s blushing a little, and Aomine doesn’t think it’s entirely due to embarrassment this time. “Yeah, I can… I just… need a little help.”

“Really.” Aomine suddenly grins, predatory, and gets up from the recliner, advancing slowly toward Kagami. “What kind of help?”

Kagami swallows, hard, and Aomine’s grin widens in response. “Just… extra stimulation and stuff.”

“Stimulation, huh?” Aomine gets down on his knees next to the lounge chair, looming over Kagami’s lap. “I think _I_ can handle that.”

“Aomine…”

The word is hesitant, unsure, a little frightened; not at _all_ the response Aomine was looking for. He looks up at Kagami, and his expression sends Aomine getting to his feet and stepping back.

“Too far, right?” he asks, trying not to sound hurt.

Kagami sighs, looking away from Aomine. “It’s not like I don’t… I mean, I’m not trying to… ugh.” He looks back, frustrated. “This is hard to say, so just… hear me out.”

“Okay,” says Aomine, lowering himself into the wheelchair. At least he’s not being thrown out.

“My whole life is kind of a… a shitshow right now. Almost every day there’s some new thing to deal with, some new problem, something new I have to get used to. It’s like I’m that cartoon character that slipped while skiing and now I’m just snowballing down the hill.” Aomine almost wants to smile at that, but Kagami keeps going. “I just… need some things that stay the same, right now. Things that don’t completely flip my life over some more.”

“…And you think I will,” says Aomine slowly. He suddenly feels pain in his chest. He deserves this, he knows, for what he did, but he thought he was getting a second chance.

“I want to think you won’t,” says Kagami quietly, and Aomine’s head snaps up to look at him. “But… if you’re just here for _that_ -“

“I’m not.” His voice is firm when he says it. He never should have let Kagami even _think_ that. “I was just trying to cheer you up.”

Kagami actually smiles at that. For the first time, Aomine notices that Kagami’s missing tooth has been replaced. “I know. I mean, that _is_ exactly where your mind would go. Straight into the gutter.”

“You’ve known I was like that the whole time,” says Aomine with an answering grin, and Kagami sighs dramatically.

“From the moment you walked into my house and asked for porn.” Kagami’s smile fades, and his eyes grow dark and tired, filled with the same sadness Aomine remembers from the hospital. “I’m not kidding, Aomine. It’s… hard. It’s going to keep being hard.”

_I know_ , Aomine starts to say, but stops because he _doesn’t_ know. He doesn’t know how hard it is because he hasn’t been around, but that’s going to change.

“I said it already, didn’t I? I’m going to learn.”

Kagami’s voice wavers. “It’s not going to be the same, Aomine. It may never be the same.”

Slowly, Aomine rises from the wheelchair again. He moves to the lounge chair, crawling up on it carefully, so he doesn’t jostle Kagami. He moves so that he’s standing over him on all fours, eye to eye.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he says, and then lays down, flush against Kagami’s chest. Kagami’s breath hitches as Aomine finds one of his hands, lacing their fingers together. “Even if you try to kick me out, I’m here to stay.”

Kagami is frozen for a long time, and Aomine’s heart hammers in his chest, wondering if he’s gone too far again, if he _is_ going to get kicked out.

And then Kagami lifts one arm up, wrapping it around Aomine’s waist again.

“Okay,” he whispers, and Aomine’s chest lightens.

He knows Kagami still isn’t sure. He knows Kagami is still afraid that he’ll turn around and Aomine will be gone again. And Aomine is afraid, too, that maybe he will fall short after all.

But it won’t be for lack of trying. Not this time.

_I_ will _win your trust back._

* * *

 

The rest of the afternoon passes in a very comfortable near silence.

They both take a nap for a bit. Aomine can’t speak for Kagami, but all that talking has worn him out, especially after his many nights without sleeping. Kagami seems pretty tired himself, and Aomine assumes it’s because of his physical therapy. He wonders what all they make Kagami do there. Just one of the many things he’ll come to know in the next few days, he’s sure.

Kagami’s dad calls around three and asks if Aomine is still there. When Kagami tells him that he is, Aomine’s surprised when Kagami’s father offers to get him food. He shamelessly agrees.

His father will be back around five with the takeout, so Aomine pops in a movie at Kagami’s request. It’s some dumb action movie, but it’s got enough guns and explosions (and boobs, though Aomine is the only one who properly enjoys that part) to entertain them. It ends about the time Kagami’s father gets back, and Aomine finds himself enjoying his dinner, arguing with Kagami over how believable the ending of the movie was. It’s not like it matters, but it’s something to squabble with each other about, and that feels good.

When it gets dark, it’s clear that Kagami’s father is ready for him to leave. Aomine _could_ defy him and hang around, but it might make things needlessly difficult in the future if he pisses Kagami’s dad off.

He waits until he’s alone with Kagami again, then bends down and presses a kiss to Kagami’s lips. Kissing goodbye isn’t really their style, but Aomine wants to kiss Kagami again, and why should he deny himself?

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” he more asks than says as he steps out the door, and Kagami smiles at him, bright and open. Aomine’s heart flutters in his chest.

“Yeah. Don’t skip school, though, I have therapy anyway.”

“Tch. Didn’t say I was going to skip school for you,” he says. Even if he _had_ been considering doing just that.

Kagami laughs. “Just don’t die going home.”

“I won’t.”

He heads away from the door, down the stairs to the street. He glances back over his shoulder, and Kagami is still in the doorway, lit from the light inside his apartment. He waves, and Aomine raises his hand in reply.

He feels happier than he has in months; maybe the happiest he’s ever felt.

_I’m going to see Kagami again tomorrow,_ he thinks, and can’t help but smile to himself.


	9. Bed Rest

“You seem happy this morning, Dai-chan.”

Aomine whips his eyes up from his phone (and a text that reads, _PT in an hour, wish me luck?_ ) to look at Momoi smiling at him. They’re walking across the Touou grounds, just in time for their first class.

“What are you talking about?” he asks, trying not to snap. That would sound too defensive.

“You keep smiling at your phone.” She leans toward him, as though trying to peek at his screen. “Texting anyone I would know?”

Aomine hits send and stuffs his phone in his pocket. “I’m not smiling. It’s just gas.”

“Dai-chan!” Momoi huffs, giving him a little pouty lip. Aomine stares back at her, willing himself not to cave in to anything, and feels a moment of victory when she sighs and turns away.

“Fine then, don’t tell me,” she says as they enter the building. She separates from him to go to her locker, but not before glancing back over her shoulder at him and winking. “Tetsu-kun already texted me this morning, anyway.”

Aomine freezes, mouth agape, before abruptly shutting it and stalking the rest of the way to his locker. Of course that idiot told Kuroko. Of course Kuroko told Momoi. All of Seirin, Touou, and the Generation of Miracles probably knew by now. How so many of them could be such bad gossips, he would never understand.

Opening his locker, he pulls out his phone again. There’s a stream of texts from Kagami, and for a moment they don’t make sense, until Aomine scrolls back up and sees what he sent minutes ago.

_Just don’t fuck_

That had been it. Kagami seemed to have had some fun suggesting ways to complete the sentence.

_Don’t fuck the instructor?_

_Don’t fuck with you?_

_Don’t fuck a watermelon?_

_Don’t fuck and tell?_

Aomine rolls his eyes and texts back. _Just don’t fuck it up. But maybe it should have been, don’t fucking tell everybody everything._

He's in class by the time Kagami responds. _What are you talking about?_

_You told Tetsu about me coming over!_

_Was I not supposed to?_

Aomine thinks about that, but there’s no real reason why he couldn’t, other than Aomine’s own embarrassment (which, in his opinion, is reason enough). _Whatever. It’s just that it spreads to Satsuki, and probably everywhere after that._

_I don’t care. I don’t have anything to hide._

Aomine suddenly feels heat on the back of his neck, and he looks up from his phone. The guy who sits at the desk beside him is staring at him strangely, and Aomine realizes that he’s smiling again – and maybe worse than that. He abruptly affects a scowl, and the guy looks straight ahead with an audible gulp. That’s better.

He looks back at his phone, types, _Well I would rather keep it private._ Then he stares at those words for awhile, and wonders why. What does he care what the rubberneckers think?

So he deletes that, and instead types, _Same._

Then he shoves his phone in his pocket, and doesn’t look at it again until lunch, to see Kagami replied with a smiley face.

* * *

 

His heart is pounding strangely hard when he arrives at Kagami's apartment that afternoon. He knows that Kagami said he wants him here, but Aomine can't help the small worry that maybe Kagami has changed his mind, realized that as nice as yesterday was, Aomine just isn't worth the trouble.

But to his relief, Kagami smiles when he opens the door.

“Hey! You're just in time!”

“For what?” asks Aomine as he walks in, giving Kagami enough space to turn his chair around and locking the door behind himself. He sees that Kagami's dad is sitting at the kitchen table, shuffling a deck of cards. He looks up, and gives Aomine a nod.

“For poker!” Kagami announces, sounding pleased with himself. He leads Aomine over to the table, gesturing for him to sit down.

“Huh? You play poker?” Aomine drawls, raising an eyebrow at Kagami quizzically. Personally, he's not really interested in playing anything; he's mostly annoyed that Kagami's dad in the room, and he has gone completely un-kissed since he arrived.

“I taught him in the hospital,” says the man himself, bridging the cards. “It was something to do.” He pushes them across the table to Aomine. “Here, cut.”

Aomine just stares at him blankly. “Cut what?”

Kagami snorts. “He wants you to cut the deck. Don't you know what that means?”

“Of course I know!” Aomine snaps. He looks back at the cards, staring at them as though willing them to show him what he's supposed to do. He can feel the Kagami family's gaze on him, and feels the back of his neck prickle.

After several seconds, Kagami reaches over and picks up some of the cards off the top of the deck, then sets them down and puts the rest of the deck on top. “There you go.”

“I-I was going to! I was just... building tension.” He glowers at Kagami. “It's a technique. Psyches out your opponents.”

Kagami just laughs, reaching over and giving him a slap on the back. “We should bet real money, Dad. We'll take Aomine here to the cleaners.”

“Shut up, Kagami.”

Kagami's father chuckles, taking the deck back and dealing them each five cards. “We'll play five-card draw. It's easy.”

“I thought we were playing poker,” says Aomine, and Kagami laughs at him again.

This is some kind of punishment for leaving, Aomine fumes to himself. Kagami and his father must have done this on purpose.

He's so busy being cross that he misses most of the explanation of the rules. They start going around to bet, and Aomine has no idea what to put in. Does he even have a good hand?

There's a black two, a four of diamonds, a queen of hearts, and two black nines. He stares at them, trying to remember what the two black suits are called while Kagami and his father toss some of the plastic chips they're playing with into the center of the table.

He feels a warm weight on his shoulder and realizes Kagami's leaned into him, looking at his cards. His breath is pleasantly warm against Aomine's ear, and he's reminded of what he would much rather be doing right now than playing this stupid game.

“You should bet high,” says Kagami seriously, and Aomine blinks and looks at his hand.

“Uh, are you sure...? Aren't I supposed to be looking for all the same or something?”

“Only if you want to go for a flush or a straight. But there are other hands.” Kagami grins innocently enough at him, and Aomine sighs and gives a shrug.

“Fine. Here.”

He tosses one of the bigger chips into the pile (he doesn't remember what values they told him they were each for, but a bigger chip means it's worth more, right?), then settles back in his chair. He's hoping that's all, but then Kagami pushes three cards toward his dad.

“Give me three.”

He gets three cards back. Aomine watches his mysterious exchange for a moment before looking back at his own hand.

There's the weight on his shoulder again, as Kagami leans in to look. He taps the nines.

“Exchange those.”

“But they match.”

Kagami shakes his head. “You can't do anything with just those, though. Try for something else.”

Aomine sighs again, and passes the cards back to his dad. “This better be good advice, Bakagami,” he says, as he takes the cards and slips them into his hand.

A three of diamonds and a black ten. His hand looks even more disorganized than before.

They go around for betting again; starting to grow suspicious, Aomine throws a smaller chip into the pile this time. “No, you have to match,” says Kagami, and he has no idea what that means, so he lets Kagami take the chip and set it in the pile for him.

“Alright,” says Kagami's father with finality, putting his hand flat on the table. “Show 'em.”

He has two sixes, and other cards that don't match. “A pair,” he says, perhaps for Aomine's benefit.

Kagami grins as he sets his cards down. “Two sevens.”

His dad whistles. “You got me, son. Just barely, though.” Aomine's eyes widen. He _knew_ he should have been looking for matching cards! So why did Kagami tell him to give the nines away!? Does his random looking hand hold some mysterious trump combination!?

Scowling, he slaps his own cards down. Both father and son look at his hand, then Kagami starts to grin while his father just rubs his chin. “A queen? Is that all, Aomine-kun?”

“You tricked me!” snaps Aomine, jumping up from his seat, and Kagami laughs so hard, pounding his hands on the table, that his chair rocks back on its wheels. “You asshole!”

“I knew you didn't pay attention to the rules! Idiot! Hahaha!”

“Damn it, Kagami!” Slamming back into his seat, Aomine thumped his hand on the table and looked back at the elder Kagami. “Hit me again. I'm gonna beat this jackass.”

Kagami's father just laughs and hands the cards over to Kagami. “Here, you deal.”

They play for another hour, with Aomine learning the rules quickly as time goes on. Despite his earlier animosity, he feels himself start to have fun. It's not like basketball, all physical, not even having to think, both of them in the zone and sparking off each other, but it's still a competition, even if neither of them are very good at it. It quickly becomes apparent that Kagami is relying on blind luck, but it's still satisfying to beat him as the hands go on.

But in the end, it's Kagami's father who has the most chips in front of him; he actually knows what he's doing. He stretches his arms, a smug grin on his face, and says, “Well, boys, I think I'm done taking your money for tonight.”

He and Kagami put away the chips and the cards, and then he disappears back into his room, leaving Kagami and Aomine alone in the kitchen. “I was just going to heat something up for dinner,” Kagami says as he moves away from the table. “So do you want- mmph!”

He's abruptly cut off by Aomine's lips on his, the other boy having snuck around and caught him off guard. There's a grin against his lips, and then Aomine is in his lap, his tongue slipping into Kagami's mouth.

They make out for a few minutes before breaking away, both of them showing winded, swollen smiles to each other. “Feel better?” asks Kagami, one of his thumbs running circles on Aomine's hip.

“Yeah, actually.” Aomine gets up after a moment longer, his fingertips brushing down Kagami's arm, smiling in satisfaction when he sees light goosebumps. “I thought your dad would never leave. Now, what was that about dinner...?”

Kagami just scoffs and wheels past him to the fridge.

* * *

 

A bit later, after they've both eaten and Kagami has taken care of anything he needs to, Aomine crawls after Kagami onto the lounge chair, getting comfortable in his lap once again. Kagami wraps his arms around his waist, and they both lay in contented silence for a few minutes, the TV running on some comedy show in the background.

“My dad could walk in at any moment,” says Kagami finally, a heavy sleepiness to his tone. Aomine had noticed him wearing down as the afternoon turned to evening; it _was_ a PT morning, after all.

“It's cool. I'll move if I hear him coming.”

“Only if you stay awake.” Kagami's eyes drift closed, and he nuzzles his chin a little into the crown of Aomine's hair.

“I'll stay awake.”

Kagami's amused huff ruffles Aomine's hair. Another moment passes, and then he says, “I'm glad you came back today.”

Aomine's eyes open from where they had slipped to half mast, and he pushes himself up enough so he can see Kagami's face. “Did you think I wouldn't?”

Kagami's own eyes snap open, and he actually looks ashamed. “I...”

He doesn't continue, and Aomine sighs, settling back down against his chest. “I guess I can't get mad at you for that.”

“I'm really sorry.” Kagami's voice sounds tight. “It's... not that I don't believe you, but-”

“Of course you better believe me,” Aomine cuts him off, voice determined. “I'm going to keep coming back. Every day.”

Kagami's breath catches, and then he chuckles fondly. His voice sounds a little watery when he says, “Alright.”

Suddenly the air feels way too thick, and Aomine can feel his face growing hot as the weight of his words and their effect on Kagami settle in. “As long as you keep feeding me,” he growls, to offset the moment, and Kagami laughs.

“You know, you're more like a cat than a-” Kagami catches himself oddly, before finishing that sentence with a stilted, “a human being.”

Aomine wonders what he was going to say instead, and he thinks he knows. But like Kagami, he decides to let it go for now.

They have time to figure out what words to use later. For now, Aomine decides, it's time to nap.


	10. Medication Schedule

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it's been such a long time please accept this offering.
> 
> Also there are some brief mentions of depression in this chapter.

Aomine keeps his promise, and every day that week he shows up directly after school, to hang out with Kagami until it's late enough that his father starts hinting that he should be going.

In that time, he begins to learn a lot more about how Kagami's injury affects him – in both a physical and mental sense. Though Kagami can still do a lot of things without help, there are other things he can't do alone, and Aomine misses many cues. Times when he tries to help and accidentally causes Kagami to get flustered and irritated. Times when he doesn't realize he should help, causing Kagami to fumble until he (more shame-faced than Aomine would ever like) has to ask for assistance. It's a learning process, and Aomine finds himself spending a lot of time analyzing and cataloguing Kagami's every move, making a mental directory of things Kagami does and doesn't need help with. He wonders if this is what Momoi feels like, as she meticulously writes down every statistic about a given player.

Speaking of, he finds that even though basketball is a topic the both of them still carefully avoid, conversation with Kagami isn't hard. He knows now that he never should have truly allowed himself to think that, that of course he and Kagami were more to each other than basketball rivals, but he wasn't sure until now that he would have anything to offer that would interest Kagami.

But they talk about all kinds of things. About movies. About weird things they see surfing the internet. Old stories from their respective middle school days. New stories and gossip about their high school friends. Aomine talks about shoes and is pleased when Kagami is not bored. Kagami gets him into his silly cop shows.

It's comfortable and it's easy, and while Kagami is still in the midst of recovery, Aomine thinks it's alright like this. Though he does sometimes wonder if Kagami isn't too isolated, here in his apartment.

They're having one of those afternoons where they're doing nothing particular. Kagami has just finished retelling the story of one of his classmate's unsuccessful confessions, complete with an irate girl slapping him in the face. Aomine is laughing, the sound reverberating through Kagami's chest – his lap has become Aomine's permanent spot when the elder Kagami isn't around.

He glances at the time on the clock near the chair, then sits up. “Hey, it's about time for your dumb cop show, isn't it?”

Kagami looks over too. “Oh, yeah- hey, you remembered!”

“Only because you're always bugging me about it.” Aomine rolls his eyes, then slides out of the chair and onto his feet. He reaches over to grab the remote and pass it to Kagami.

“Find the channel, I'm gonna go take a leak.” He starts to walk off. “You need anything while I'm up?”

“I'm good.”

“Alright.” Aomine gives him a quick wave of his hand, then disappears into the bathroom.

As he's washing his hands, Aomine looks over the medicine bottles lined up on the bathroom counter. There’s four of them, all labeled with names he can’t pronounce. At first he thinks he should just leave them alone, but curiosity wins out and he picks each of them up in turn to read the directions.

The first two are painkillers, which isn’t really surprising. One seems to be stronger than the other and has more warnings to not take more than directed. There’s a whole list of side effects on the bottle, and Aomine feels dizzy just skimming it. He sets it back down, picks up the third bottle. It’s a blood pressure medication. Boring. Aomine sets it back down.

The last bottle is just as unassuming as the first three, but when Aomine reads the directions, he almost drops it.

_Antidepressants?_

What does Kagami need antidepressants for? Aomine’s grip on the bottle tightens. Sure, Kagami is upset about his new situation, but _depressed_? No, he seems like the same old Kagami… doesn’t he?

Aomine’s mind fills with images. The other players he left behind on the court, their dreams destroyed in the wake of Aomine’s abilities. Kagami’s own look, when he said, “Why don’t you just go home if you’re uncomfortable, Aomine?”

He’s still holding the bottle as he exits the bathroom.

“What the _fuck_ , Kagami!”

Kagami drops the TV remote. “Eh!? What!?”

Aomine holds the bottle up and shakes the contents. Kagami squints, unable to tell which bottle Aomine is holding from across the room, and so Aomine provides an answer.

“Antidepressants.”

Kagami’s mouth pops open in a silent, “Oh,” for a moment, then closes again as he leans back in his seat. “Yeah. I take those.”

“Since _when_?”

“Since I was in the hospital.”

“What _for_?”

Kagami huffs. “Are you really asking me what antidepressants are for?”

“You know that’s not what I mean!” Aomine stalks across the room, stopping to stand over Kagami. “Why did you start taking these?”

Kagami heaves a deep sigh and turns his head to look out the window. The silence is too damning, and Aomine wilts, his shoulders drooping as he waits for an answer, until he can’t take it anymore.

“…Was it because of me?”

Kagami blinks, actually looking surprised, before he huffs a wry laugh and shakes his head. “Is your ego really that big?”

“But I… It’s _really_ not because of me? …Don’t deny it just because-“

“They were already considering prescribing them before you left.”

Aomine feels a strange sort of relief in his chest, even though his stomach is tying itself in knots. “Then why?”

Kagami shrugs, and finally looks back at Aomine. “They said it was pretty common for people who go through this. Spinal injuries.”

“…Oh.”

Aomine turns and sinks onto the edge of Kagami’s couch, not getting too close. “Okay. So... what does that mean?”

“Uh...” Kagami doesn't look entirely comfortable with this topic, but he plows on, and Aomine is grateful. “It just means... I feel dead, some days. Like I don't really want to do anything.” He looks away from Aomine again, eyes on his shirt. “Makes me feel tired, and stuff like that. My case is pretty mild, though, so that's about the worst of it.” He glances back up again, and smiles a little. “I'm not gonna kill myself, if that's what you're wanting to know.”

Aomine is grateful Kagami said it, so he doesn't have to ask. He doesn't want to admit that it's immediately where his mind went.

“Okay,” he says again, and his voice sounds much calmer, relieved. “That's... not too bad then.”

“Yeah.” Kagami's smile widens, and he seems to relax in time with Aomine. “It's not a big deal. There's people way worse off than me in that department.”

His eyes linger a little too long on Aomine, and he gets the hint, giving a shrug of his own.

“ _I'm_ not depressed, if that's what you're getting at.”

“I didn't say that,” says Kagami, though he still sounds suspicious, and Aomine grumbles to himself before turning to face Kagami fully.

“I'm not going to pretend it wasn't rough for awhile, alright? I mean...” He grits his teeth. “Obviously nothing like what happened to you, but... after awhile, basketball stopped meaning anything to me. For different reasons, but...”

“But did it feel the same to you, sometimes? Like you just didn't even want to get out of bed?”

“Yeah. Sometimes.” _More often since your accident,_ he thinks to himself. “But I'm alright now.”

“Now? What changed?”

_Isn't it obvious?_

Instead of answering, Aomine sets the bottle down on the far arm of Kagami's wheelchair, then slides himself back into his spot on Kagami's chest, wrapping his arms around him and settling his head into the crook of his neck.

“Sorry. For going through your shit.”

“It's fine.” Kagami sounds a bit confused by the abrupt subject change, but doesn't press, and Aomine appreciates that.

“How often do you have to take those, anyway?”

“Once a day. They make me sleepy so I don't really like 'em, but Dad gets on my case about it.”

“What the hell, Kagami?” Aomine growls, irritation evident in his voice, and twists up to flick Kagami in the forehead. “I'm gonna get on your case about it, too. What about the blood pressure medicine?”

“That's once a day too.”

“Painkillers?”

“Only when I need them.”

“Okay. I'm gonna ask you every day, so you better take them, alright?”

Kagami groans into Aomine's hair. “You really don't have to do that...”

“I said I'd help, remember? This is helping.”

“Tch. You're an ass,” says Kagami, but he doesn't sound like he really means it, and Aomine takes that as a win.

* * *

 

“Hey,” says Kagami later, eyes on the rice he's stirring. “Summer vacation is soon for you too, right?”

“Yeah. Starts next week.” Aomine can't be more ready, honestly, and not just because he won't have to worry about school for awhile. He'll have his whole day free, during the summer. He's not really one for waking up early, but if he gets to Kagami's house in time, he could always nap after breakfast.

“I, uh... was wondering if you wanted to hang out here, part of the time,” says Kagami, eyes still locked on the rice, and Aomine raises an eyebrow.

“...Part of the time?” he drawls, though he's feeling his stomach sink, wondering if he's being kicked out. He doesn't even know what he did, this time! “Do you have something against me being here all the time, or what?”

“No! No.” Kagami nervously scratches the back of his neck. “I just mean...” With a huff, he finally turns his head to look at Aomine. “Do you want to sleep over or what?”

For a moment, Aomine can only stare at him in wide-eyed surprise, before a predatory grin covers his face, and he languidly slides out of the kitchen chair to advance on Kagami.

“Sleep over? And where would I sleep while your old man's here, huh?”

“Dad's been talkin' about how he needs to go back to America for awhile, for work.” Aomine feels irritation rise in his chest, because of course it's always about work for Kagami's father, even if it makes things more convenient for them. “If you were here with me, he'd feel better about going.”

“If _I_ was here?” Aomine can't help but feel skeptical; sure, he's become more of a help to Kagami as time has gone on, but he's hardly a nurse. What would he do, if there were an emergency, and Kagami needed help that he couldn't provide?

But Kagami looks confident in him, even if he can't feel any confidence in himself. “Yeah. You know my medicine routine at this point, you know what stuff to help me with, you even helped me out of my chair the other day.”

He had done that, when Kagami had been tired and achey from physical therapy and just wanted to lay down for a bit. Still, being able to help with minor tasks around the apartment didn't assuage his worries.

“What if something happens? Like if you slip in the bathtub or something?”

Kagami rolls his eyes. “It's three numbers, Aomine. Even you can remember it.”

Aomine leans back, away from Kagami, and looks him up and down.

“You're really okay with this? With it just being you and me for awhile?”

Kagami's gaze doesn't waver. “If I wasn't, I wouldn't have asked.”

Aomine's eyes widen again, and he feels something warm in his heart. Kagami really wants him to stay with him, overnight, without his dad there. He trusts him that much.

Getting his grin from earlier back, Aomine takes his last step toward Kagami, and drops down to drape his arm around the other boy's shoulders.

“Say please,” he purrs in Kagami's ear, and hears Kagami give an only half-annoyed huff before saying softly, “Please.”

Aomine answers him by pressing kisses to his lips. The smell of rice burning is what finally breaks them apart.

* * *

 

On the first day of summer break, Aomine walks downstairs holding a duffel with just the necessities – mainly basketball shorts, t-shirts, and shoes. He'd realized during their time apart that he'd left some of his clothing at Kagami's house, but been too scared and ashamed to return. It's all still there, in a box in a closet, and he's sure, between that box and this duffel, that he has enough. He won't have to come back to this house until it starts getting cold again.

“Where are you going?” his mother calls when she hears the door open.

“Gonna stay at a friend's place for awhile.”

“Okay. Have fun.”

Aomine grins to himself as he shuts the door behind him, walking briskly toward Kagami's house. He certainly intends to.

* * *

 

It's Kagami's father who opens the door when he gets there, holding a tie in one hand. “Oh, Aomine-kun,” is all he says, before turning back to look at Kagami, in his chair at the kitchen table. They're mid-argument.

“I'm only concerned about your safety, Taiga.”

Aomine looks between them, then slowly edges towards the chair in the living room, aiming to stay out of whatever this is.

“I'll be fine, Dad,” Kagami snaps. He hasn't acknowledged Aomine's presence other than to glance over. “It's only two weeks. Aomine's gonna hang out here and help me.”

“Aomine-kun is hardly a licensed medical professional.”

Aomine wonders briefly if he should leave, seeing as he seems to be the subject of the argument, but in the end he only sinks a little more firmly into the chair and waits.

“He knows what to do. I don't even need that much help anymore.”

“But you're still recovering. What about getting to PT? What about your doctor's appointments?”

“Come on, Dad, I'm not going to forget! And you've scheduled the van, they'll help too.”

Kagami's father still looks skeptical, but finally he sighs, running a hand over the bridge of his nose.

“I don't leave until the weekend. We'll see how it goes before then.”

Aomine smirks to himself as Kagami smiles more triumphantly. “Thanks, Dad.”

“But you'll have to convince me this will be okay, or I'm scheduling the home assistance.” He looks between the two of them, sighs again with a shake of his head, then reaches for his briefcase. “I'm going now.”

“See you, then.”

He gives Aomine a nod as he passes, and then he's gone. Kagami wheels himself from around the table, smiling at Aomine.

“It took all night and all morning to convince him.”

“Geez. I'm not _that_ bad...” Aomine huffs, but he's not too mad. At least it worked, and Kagami's father agreed to their terms. “Guess I'll have to be on my best behavior this week, huh?”

“You'll be fine. Probably.” Kagami ignores his noise of protest, moving toward his chair. “All you have to do is make sure I don't die, after all.”

“Sometimes that's easier said than done with you,” Aomine snaps, but he follows Kagami anyway, ready to take up his normal spot in his lap.

“Yeah, yeah.” Kagami grabs the remote, turning on the TV, and wraps his arms around Aomine as he settles in. “Now shut up, I want to watch this.”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy(?) KagaAo Day! (Or AoKaga Day if you prefer.)
> 
> This fic is my first foray into writing for the KnB fandom, and so of course I had to start with a doozy. It's become something of my magnum opus, with 22K words already written and much more I want to add to it. My goal is to post a new chapter every week or so, and hopefully I should have more completed before I run out of things to post.
> 
> A big thanks to my friend (Pinkgrasshopper) for proofreading and letting me bounce ideas off her!
> 
> I really hope you enjoyed reading this!


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